Trailbreaker (Prairie Nightingale)
Mystery
2nd in Series
Setting – Wisconsin
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Thomas & Mercer
Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 27, 2026
Print length ‏ : ‎ 299 pages

Synopsis

Suspicions that a serial killer is terrorizing a pristine tourist spot draw a single mom and budding private investigator into a twisting and deepening mystery of secrets and murder.

Single mom and newly minted private investigator Prairie Nightingale has opened the doors of her Green Bay, Wisconsin, agency and is ready for work. She and her crew aren’t quite prepared for their first client, though: Bernie Dubicki, a notorious online journalist and not-altogether-reliable provocateur, who claims the idyllic vacation destination of nearby Door County is home to a serial killer.

She’s pinpointed four seemingly unrelated deaths that haven’t raised suspicions for anyone else. But when a college student vanishes, Bernie’s sizable retainer convinces Prairie to help connect the dots. And trusted, flirty FBI agent Foster Rosemare thinks Bernie might be onto something. Prairie never expected her first investigation to be so big—like Dateline big—but she does have an inquiring mind and a knack for seeing things no one else can.

In this case she’ll have to look deep—not only into the secrets of strangers, but into Door County’s woods—to solve a mystery decades in the making.

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Excerpt

Prairie Nightingale meditated on the gold-leaf letters decorating the privacy glass in front of her: Prairie Hawk Investigations.

It was quiet on the seventh floor of the antique Baylor Building. So quiet, she could hear muffled voices coming from the only other office on the floor. That office belonged to a therapist Prairie and her ex-husband had seen together before they got divorced.

She wondered what the couple was talking about. When she and Greg saw the therapist, Greg had mostly complained about not being adequately appreciated, while Prairie had fumbled for the words to describe what it felt like to lose herself under the invisible burden of making Greg and her children’s lives amazing, such that she’d once filled out a school permission slip and forgotten her own last name.

It was Nightingale. Prairie Hawk Nightingale.

Now, several years later, here was her name emblazoned in gold on a door leading to a spacious office in a historic downtown Green Bay building. Prairie would have expected this to mean that she finally knew exactly who she was: A mother of two daughters. A homemaker. A woman interesting to a handsome agent of the FBI, not for crimes, but for her mind, and a little bit for how good her backside looked in jeans.

She was also, as the gold letters declared, a private investigator.

It wasn’t an outcome she’d planned on when she inserted herself in the murder investigation of Lisa Radcliffe last fall. Lisa had been a mom friend of Prairie’s. Discovering exactly how she died at the hands of her husband, Chris, had carved a piece out of Prairie’s heart that she could never replace.

Her innate curiosity, along with a talent for vital pattern recognition, were what had inspired Prairie to invite three incredible women to take a leap into the unknown with her: the capable executive assistant who’d been helping Prairie run her household since her divorce; her ex-mother-in-law, who’d become a forensic genealogist in retirement; and a nineteen-year-old up-and-coming true crime podcaster who’d impressed Prairie with her clear-eyed commitment to equity.

So far, the four of them had leaped only to stumble. No one was knocking on their door. This morning would be the first time they’d gathered at the office in months. Frequently, Prairie found herself sitting straight up in bed in the middle of the night, her heart racing, thinking about the zero dollars she and these women were making and the regret they must feel for believing in her.

She reached out and touched the gold letters.

The glass flew backward from her fingertips.

“What the hell are you doing out here?” Marian Banks stood in front of her, holding open the door Prairie had just been sadly fondling. “You know I could see your shadow staring in at me through the glass? It was more than a little creepy.”

No doubt it had been creepy. And, Prairie could admit, maudlin. She resettled her trusty crossbody messenger bag on her shoulder, determined to adjust her attitude. “Am I late?”

Marian had called the partners together on a Thursday morning with little more than an hour’s notice, requiring Prairie to inform her ex that he would have to drop off their daughters for their morning activities. Greg had told her, in turn, that this errand was not “on his list,” forcing Prairie to counter that both appointments were “on the shared calendar,” and it was Greg’s day to be in charge of their girls.

“No, you’re early,” Marian said. “I lied about what time I needed you. Good thing, too. I can already tell you’re in a state, and I haven’t told you about the mouse poop on the conference table yet.”

“You’re joking. How?” Had it been that long since Prairie stopped by the office? She crossed the room to inspect the surface of the table. “Motherlover, that is mouse poop. I was hoping it was a few black sesame seeds or something. This is tragic.” Their office had become as dilapidated as Prairie’s dream of a justice-focused private investigations agency—neglected so long, it had fallen into a rodent-infested state of near-abandonment.

“For heaven’s sake.” Marian walked over to the bank of beautiful stone-framed windows on the street-facing wall and pulled up the blinds. A tasteful glimpse of softly rounded belly peeked out from beneath her silky crop top. Marian had turned up for this morning’s meeting with fully contoured makeup and false eyelashes. Prairie couldn’t help but appreciate how the natural light coming through the window caught the shine of Marian’s glossy, artificially messy brunette updo—though her business partner’s glamour made the office look considerably worse.

“I thought we were paying for housekeeping.” She gingerly sat down on one of the rolling leather office chairs.

“We were,” Marian confirmed. “Until it was no longer safe for our finances to pay them.”

About the Authors

Ruthie Knox and Annie Mare write critically acclaimed, bestselling mystery and romance, usually (but not always) together. They are the authors of the Prairie Nightingale mysteries and the TV Detectives mystery series. If you want more of their stories, check out their queer romances co-written as Mae Marvel, as well as solo work by Ruthie Knox (het romance), Annie Mare (grounded queer paranormal romance), and Robin York (Ruthie’s pen name for New Adult romance). Ruthie and Annie are married and live with two teenagers, two dogs, multiple fish, two glorious cats, four hermit crabs, and a bazillion plants in a very old house with a garden.

Website * Facebook – Ruthie * Facebook – Annie * Instagram – Ruthie * Instagram – Annie