EXCLUSIVE: Read An Excerpt From Jaime Parker Stickle's "Take Hart"

Posted in: Books, Pop Culture | Tagged: Jaime Parker Stickle, Take Hart

EXCLUSIVE: Read An Excerpt From Jaime Parker Stickle's "Take Hart"

Check out a Bleeding Cool exclusive: an excerpt from Jaime Parker Stickle's new novel Take Hart (A Thriller), released this week.

Published Wed, 05 Aug 2026 19:42:09 -0500
by Gavin Sheehan
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Article Summary

• Read a Bleeding Cool exclusive excerpt from Take Hart, Jaime Parker Stickle’s new thriller now available this week.
• Take Hart follows Corey Tracey-Lieberman as she investigates a missing mother in Los Angeles when others won’t.
• The excerpt reveals Corey’s sharp voice, anxiety, and memories as she heads through Highland Park on the case.
• As Take Hart unfolds, Corey balances parenthood, LAPD consulting, marriage strain, and a stalking killer.

Imprint publisher Thomas & Mercer has shared an exclusive with Bleeding Cool, as we have an excerpt from the upcoming second novel by Jaime Parker Stickle, Take Hart (A Thriller). Her first novel, Vicisious Cycle (A Thriller), gave us the character Corey Tracey-Lieberman, a former broadcast journalist who takes a murder investigation into her own hands. This time around, she's got a new case of a mother who has vanished, and it's up to her to put the pieces together when it seems no one else will. You can read more about the book and check out the excerpt below, as this book has been released this week.

A Mother Has Gone Missing…

The drive to Anne's takes us down one of the main strips in Highland Park, York Boulevard. A new brewery in an old billiards hall, a seating area in what used to be a few metered parking spots outside a purple brick coffee shop that also serves milk tea. Every other eating spot or drinking spot uses the name Highland Park some place in its name: Highland Park Eats, Highland Park Drinks, Highland Park Coffee. The street is narrow, one lane in each direction, and it's always busy with cars, it doesn't matter the time of day. The street, the stores, all the buildings are old. The new paint strategically excludes the preserved original signage of former businesses, long since shuttered. There's a park on the corner that used to be a gas station.

It's the second park I took Jacob to when he was just a few months old. A Northeast LA mommy group was hosting a meetup. Evan encouraged me to go, even offered to come with me. I showed up with Jacob but didn't see any groups, just a lot of women with their kids not talking to each other. After a while a small group started to form, and I approached, my anxiety high, and asked, "Is this the mommy group?"

"Yes," a small, pregnant, red-haired woman said. She smiled but didn't say anything else.

"I'm Corey. I registered for the meetup online."

"Oh, okay, that's you," said another pregnant woman. A brunette in denim overalls and a baseball cap. "So, to join the outings and the group, there's a fee, and I didn't receive that from you. Before you can participate, we do ask that you pay for a membership."

"I'm sorry, I must have missed that. I thought it was just a park meetup."

"Yep, you can pay online any time," the brunette said without telling me her name. She turned back to the women gathered and continued the conversation I had previously interrupted. I walked away, pushing Jacob in his stroller, not understanding if I was supposed to stay or leave. By the time Jacob and I got home, I was completely over mommy groups.

Since then, the community has had the park tested for toxic chemicals since it was built on top of decommissioned petroleum tanks. The city and the residents are at odds with the results, and that mommy group still meets there. I won't quickly forget their faces or their Facebook group anytime soon.

About Take Hart (A Thriller)

Corey Tracey-Lieberman is a former television journalist who's determined to bring justice to her corner of Los Angeles, while balancing an increasingly challenging modem day-to-day reality: consulting for the LAPD; coping with the anxiety of parenthood; filing stories for an indie news blog; processing the failures of her marriage; meeting with her therapist; and navigating the romantic feelings for her crime-fighting partner, all while solving the mystery of yet another missing woman in the city of angels. Reader, it's a lot.

In order to see the truth clearly, Corey must stop taking the meds that keep her anxiety at bay. Strapping her fourteen-month-old son Jacob to her chest, she follows a trail that leads from a suspicious house fire to the furtive activities of new neighbors. The more Corey 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…

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