Guest Sleuth Spotlight: K. Z. Black—The Lakehouse Guests
An influencer books a cozy lake weekend. The house has other plans. Meet K. Z. Black and her locked-house thriller.
Series: standalone
The Book: Influencer Kellie arrives at remote Stillwater House with a suitcase full of good lighting and a weekend plan — film a "cozy getaway" mini-series for her followers. Lake views. Soft mornings. Easy content. What she doesn't expect are hosts with rehearsed smiles, rules that feel weaponized, and cameras that never seem to blink.
Six couples arrive as strangers… until two of them react like they've met before. At midnight, a brand-new episode appears under Kellie's show — scheduled without her — and a timer starts counting up, as if someone's filming her life in real time. The house's timeline doesn't match hers. Keys change hands. Room assignments shift. Then the storm rolls in, cell service dies, and the gate locks from the inside.
When the first death at the dock looks like an accident, Kellie wants to believe it. Until the next one. And the next. The security feeds glitch, delay, and lie — proof that reality can be edited. Kellie came to capture a weekend. So why does Stillwater House look like it's been waiting for her?
Rating: 4.3 out of 5 stars (13 reviews) — Amazon
“For readers who like their mysteries with a little more edge than sugar—this one looks genuinely unsettling. A remote lake house, cameras that won’t look away, and a weekend that refuses to go according to plan. Not my usual Maple Grove fare, but I’m always up for a change of pace when the setup is this cinematic!”
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