"MMA champ-turned-FBI Special Agent and BAU specialist Dakota Steele is as tough as they come—and as brilliant, too, able to crack serial killers that no one else can. When a new serial killer appears, using dangerous chemicals to murder victims, it’s up to Dakota and her partner to track him down. But this killer is unlike any she’s seen before—and Dakota may just find her own life in danger.

“The plot has many twists and turns, but it is the ending, which I did not see coming at all, that totally defines this book as one of the most riveting that I have read in years.”—Reader review for Not Like Us

WITHOUT A PAST is book #3 in a new series by critically-acclaimed and #1 bestselling mystery and suspense author Ava Strong.

Dakota’s personal life offers no refuge from the stress. She has finally summoned the courage to contact her father, but their relationship is rocky at best, and Dakota is no closer to finding the answers she needs to unravel the mysteries of her past—and of her sister’s disappearance.

Can Dakota stop the killer in time to save the next victim?

Can she find her own sister’s killer? Or will her past remain a mystery forever?

A complex psychological crime thriller full of twists and turns and packed with heart-pounding suspense, the DAKOTA STEELE mystery series will make you fall in love with a brilliant new female protagonist and keep you turning pages late into the night.

Books #4-#5 in the series—WITHOUT PITY and WITHOUT HOPE—are now also available.

“This is a chilling, suspenseful page turner that just might leave you scared at night!”—Reader review for Not Like Us


“Very intriguing, kept me turning page after page… Lots of twists and turns and a very unexpected ending. Cannot wait for the next in this series!”—Reader review for Not Like Us