Series: Dark and Dangerous # 1
Format: 331 pages, Paperback
Release Date: March 17, 2026
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Source: Publisher
Genre: Thriller, Suspense
A wrongfully convicted man and the key witness against him join forces to figure out who framed him for murder in a riveting novel of small-town secrets by USA Today bestselling author Debra Webb.
Every person in Pine Bluff, Alabama, stood behind Emily Wallace when she testified against Clint Austin. After all, Emily knows what she saw that terrible night: Clint, covered in blood, holding the body of her best friend Heather.
But Clint has always maintained his innocence, and now, after a successful appeal, he has come home to prove it.
The whole town is furious about his return, and Emily becomes obsessed with sending Clint back to prison—until her father reveals a devastating secret that casts doubt on the whole trial. What if she was wrong?
When another person with a connection to Heather turns up dead, Clint and Emily embark on a desperate search to find the truth. Because ten years ago, they were both betrayed by someone they know. So who, in a town full of liars, is getting away with murder?
Revised edition: Previously published as Traceless, this edition of The Ten Year Lie includes editorial revisions.
The Ten Year Lie, by Debra Webb, was previously published as Traceless. The book includes editorial revisions and is the first installment in what the author calls Dark and Dangerous. The book alternates between two main characters: Clint Austin, who spent 10 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, and Emily Wallace, the woman whose testimony helped put Clint in prison. Other chapters also feature people who know the truth; some want to cover it up, and some believe that if the truth comes out, the town will destroy itself.
In the fictional town of Pine Bluff, Alabama, Emily Wallace’s testimony was pivotal in convicting Clint Austin of murdering her best friend Heather. Emily is certain of what she saw that night: Clint covered in blood, holding Heather’s body. Clint has always maintained his innocence. After a successful appeal (tied to the Exoneration Project in some accounts), he returns home determined to clear his name.
The town reacts with fury and hostility; Emily is initially obsessed with seeing him returned to prison. A devastating secret her father reveals begins to crack her certainty. When another person connected to Heather turns up dead, the two former lovers are forced into a reluctant partnership to uncover the truth. Ten years earlier, both were betrayed by someone they knew—in a community full of liars, who is still getting away with murder?
Webb leans into the atmospheric strengths of a close-knit Southern town where everyone knows everyone and secrets fester. The setting feels claustrophobic and authentic, with the interconnected lives of lifelong residents, local power dynamics, and simmering resentments amplifying the tension. Clint emerges as a hardened yet driven figure shaped by a decade of wrongful imprisonment—bitter, focused on justice, and still carrying residual feelings for Emily.
Emily is more conflicted: guilt over the past, determination that curdles into doubt, and a gradual reevaluation of everything she believed. Their enemies-to-reluctant-allies dynamic (with rekindled attraction) drives much of the emotional core. Supporting characters populate the town with potential motives and hidden agendas, contributing to the layered mystery of corruption, blackmail, abuse of power, and long-buried truths.
The novel balances suspense with romantic elements. Action and investigation escalate once new threats surface, and the central mystery benefits from misdirection. Readers who enjoy small-town thrillers with personal stakes and steamy romantic tension will find familiar pleasures. Complaints: The first half feels slow or repetitive as it establishes the town’s hostility toward Clint and the characters’ entrenched positions. The romance, while charged, is, at times, poorly timed or insufficiently convincing amid the trauma and danger. The large cast can occasionally feel overwhelming, and the resolution feels abrupt or incomplete (understandable as series groundwork).
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