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Between her LAPD consulting gig, fledgling indie news blog, and postpartum panic disorder, former TV journalist Corey Tracey-Lieberman is barely keeping it together. Then a mother named Sonja Hart vanishes in her Highland Park neighborhood, and the case is all but ignored. Sparked by maternal fury, Corey’s investigative instincts come roaring back to life.
To see the truth clearly, Corey must stop taking the meds that keep her anxiety at bay. Forced to confront her own failing marriage, she struggles with her growing feelings for her crime-fighting partner. Strapping her fifteen-month-old son to her chest, she follows a trail that leads from a suspicious house fire to the furtive activities of new neighbors.
The more she digs, the more she uncovers about the secret toll of gentrification—and the closer she comes to the verge of a breakdown. And the horror dawns that the killer she’s been chasing has been watching her all along…
“Writer and podcast host Jaime Parker Stickle first introduced readers to an unforgettable sleuth in her debut novel, Vicious Cycle… [which] centered on a former broadcast journalist, who balanced new motherhood and postpartum anxiety with an investigation into the murder of two teenage girls.”
“Explosive [and] epic… Jaime Parker Stickle is bringing back one of crime fiction's most compelling new investigators with Take Hart, the follow-up to her 2025 debut novel Vicious Cycle…. The second book in the Corey in Los Angeles series expands the author's blend of mystery, social commentary, and deeply personal character drama.“
“Jaime Parker Stickle knows the streets of L.A. as well as she knows the people who live on them. Take Hart is tense and tender in equal measure. I couldn’t get enough of it!”
– Ivy Pochoda, author of Ecstasy and Sing Her Down, winner of the Los Angeles Times Books Prize
A former reporter gets a new spin on life in this gripping debut from author Jaime Parker Stickle, whose psychological roller-coaster ride set in sunny Los Angeles tackles motherhood and murder.
New mother Corey Tracey-Lieberman wakes up to nightmarish news: two teenage girls found hanged in a nearby park. Even more unsettling is how the news casually casts the tragedy as the result of increasing street crime, as if the victims’ lives didn’t really matter.
Corey knows better. In the six years she’s lived in Highland Park, she’s seen gentrification but no uptick in criminal activity. A former broadcast journalist, she knows all about spin―and not just the media kind. She now teaches spin classes in the neighborhood, between caring for her nine-month-old son and battling postpartum anxiety.
When police efforts fall short, Corey launches her own investigation into the hangings, flexing her idle sleuthing skills with baby in tow. And after a third murder strikes too close to home, she knows she’s onto something big.
An emotional gut punch tempered by belly laughs, Vicious Cycle is a tour de force certain to thrill all readers.
"Stickle buttresses her well-executed mystery plot with sharp wit, visceral depictions of Corey’s postpartum anxiety, and a surprisingly stark focus on systemic violence against women. Readers will be hungry to hear more from Corey soon."
"Jaime Stickle’s debut VICIOUS CYCLE is a layer cake of enjoyment. Any former reporter can investigate murder, but Stickle’s protagonist, Corey Tracey-Lieberman, does it with a baby strapped to her chest while fighting postpartum anxiety. Funny in spots, heartbreaking in spots, Stickle brings the humanity – and lands the plane with nary a bump.”
– Tracy Clark, award-winning author of the Cass Raines and Det. Harriet Foster series
“Jaime Parker Stickle’s debut is both a love-letter to the every-day people of Los Angeles and a kick-ass mystery. Corey Tracey-Lierberman is a vibrant, often-delirious, and surprisingly moving investigator who never stops being herself, even in the most hilarious and harrowing circumstances. Vicious Cycle is an absolute delight.”
– Tod Goldberg, New York Times bestselling author
JAIME PARKER STICKLE
She/Her/Hers
Jaime is a writer, podcaster, and professor of film and television at Montclair State University. She is the author of the gripping thriller, “Vicious Cycle: A Corey in Los Angeles Mystery,” and is the creator and host of the true crime investigative podcast, The Girl with the Same Name as well as the hilarious podcast about side-hustles, Make That Paper. Jaime lives in Los Angeles with her husband, son, and fur babies.
Photo: Joanna DeGeneres