The Last House on Briar Lane — The Story of Alice Riley book cover by Charles Carter

The Last House on Briar Lane

Adult • Thrillers • Mystery • Thriller • Suspense
The Story of Alice Riley
Empty house hides long-buried secrets Mara receives eerie photograph of herself Family's past resurfaces with danger Connection between past and present deepens Light flickers in a house thought abandoned

The house on Briar Lane has stood empty for twenty years. At least, that’s what everyone in town says.

When Mara returns to settle her mother’s estate, she finds a light burning in its upstairs window. The next morning, she receives a photograph of herself standing outside the house—a photograph taken the night before, when she was certain she was alone.

As Mara searches for whoever is watching her, she uncovers a disappearance her family helped bury. Every answer leads back to Briar Lane, and to the one person who knows what happened inside.

*The Last House on Briar Lane* is a suspenseful mystery about family secrets, unreliable memories, and the cost of keeping the past hidden.

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Edition information

Book details

Publisher
Independently published
Publication date
July 26, 2025
ISBN
9798294310264

Thrillers + Mystery + Thriller

Reader guide

What to Know Before Reading The Last House on Briar Lane

The house on Briar Lane has stood empty for twenty years. At least, that’s what everyone in town says.

When Mara returns to settle her mother’s estate, she finds a light burning in its upstairs window. The next morning, she receives a photograph of herself standing outside the house—a photograph taken the night before, when she was certain she was alone.

As Mara searches for whoever is watching her, she uncovers a

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G-NRIS™ story intelligence

Why readers connect with The Last House on Briar Lane

A concise view of the book’s strongest literary signals and the reading interests shared by people connected to it on bks.social.

Story profile

G-NRIS™ identifies The Last House on Briar Lane primarily as Thriller, Mystery, and Suspense. Its strongest themes include Family Secrets, Unreliable Memories, The Past Haunting the Present, and Disappearance. Prominent narrative patterns include Haunted House, Uncovering Family Secrets, Mysterious Photograph, and Returning Home.

Reader connection

Readers connected to this book most often reflect Psychological Moral Explorer and Historical Literary Reader reader archetypes. Their strongest shared genre interests include Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Thriller, and Science Fiction. They are commonly drawn to themes such as Survival, Exploring The Fractured Self, technology, and gaming.

About the author

Charles Carter

Charles Carter

Charles Carter is an author of fiction that spans all genres, but his greatest passion lies in crafting unforgettable stories for middle grade readers. His books invite readers of all ages into strange, lyrical worlds where memory, time, and truth are never quite what they seem. From haunting historical fiction to surreal fables, his work always returns to one core idea: the hidden weight of what we carry. His debut novel, The Paper Colony, is a Southern Gothic work of historical fiction set in the American South and the first in a planned series exploring forgotten voices and buried truths. His first middle-grade book, Before the Big Bang, published on September 7, 2025, is a clear and captivating guide for readers eager to explore what may have existed before our universe.

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