Learn more
These promotions will be applied to this item:
Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
The Scheme (Carson Crime Files Book 1) Kindle Edition
BRAG MEDALLION HONOREE
2025 Imadjinn Awards Finalist: Best Mystery
Katherine Carson, a former intelligence operative turned private detective, has never been in it for the money. But when a desperate CEO offers double her usual fee to find his missing daughter, she can't refuse.
Set in Baltimore, 2009, what begins as a simple missing person inquiry transforms into a complex case of espionage, financial crime, and deep-seated grudges. For Katherine, this case strikes a personal chord, stirring up haunting memories from her own past. As unexpected connections emerge, she must confront her unresolved guilt.
Can Katherine and her team of private detectives solve the case before it's too late, or will the turmoil of her past consume her?
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherAGS Wordsmiths
- Publication dateSeptember 6, 2024
- File size2.0 MB
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Review
"A gritty and gripping first installment of the Carson Crime Files series. Katherine, Lee, Sammi, and Jake are an eclectic and entertaining investigative team, and the author crafts her characters with precision. This tightly wound mystery feels like a true-crime podcast come to fictional life, populated with relatable sleuths and an unpredictable story, resulting in a dramatic and fast-paced private-eye thriller." Self-Publishing Review
--This text refers to the paperback edition.Product details
- ASIN : B0DDDT9SK6
- Publisher : AGS Wordsmiths
- Accessibility : Learn more
- Publication date : September 6, 2024
- Edition : 1st
- Language : English
- File size : 2.0 MB
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 212 pages
- ISBN-13 : 978-1965411018
- Page Flip : Enabled
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,801,069 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #9,022 in Traditional Detective Mysteries (Kindle Store)
- #9,970 in Private Investigator Mysteries (Kindle Store)
- #11,594 in Traditional Detective Mysteries (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read book recommendations and more.
Customer reviews
- 5 star4 star3 star2 star1 star5 star63%37%0%0%0%63%
- 5 star4 star3 star2 star1 star4 star63%37%0%0%0%37%
- 5 star4 star3 star2 star1 star3 star63%37%0%0%0%0%
- 5 star4 star3 star2 star1 star2 star63%37%0%0%0%0%
- 5 star4 star3 star2 star1 star1 star63%37%0%0%0%0%
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonTop reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews. Please reload the page.
- Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2025I thoroughly enjoyed this story. It is an excellent private detective investigation with multi-dimensional characters, plenty of action and suspense, and unexpected revelations. I enjoyed the balance Ms. Drake achieves between narration and dialogue. I've had the importance of that balance brought home in a couple of the last few books I read that were heavy on narration. The relationship between the main characters comes across as realistic and caring. This is the first book I have read by Ms. Drake, but I will be looking for more of her stories.
- Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2024Overall I enjoyed this thriller. Katherine Carson is a former intelligence officer who now operates a private detective office. They are hired to find a missing college student by her father. What should be a simple case instead has a lot of twist and turns and plenty of suspects. I enjoyed the characters and the mystery was good. I was able to figure out the who did it. This is the first book in the series and it ends with a teaser for the next one. I look for word to reading it.
- Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2025Great read with lots of twists and suspense. Can wait to read the next one!
- Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2024Catherine is a retired intelligence operator who is currently running her own P.I. team. Her new client wants her to find his missing daughter. As Catherine an dher team follow the trail of clues, they find themselves in an ever increasing web of espionage, crime and grudges. This book is full of suspense and mystery that engages the reader till the end.
I'm a member of the ARC team and have left an honest review voluntarily.
- Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2024The Scheme is the first book in Amethyst Drake's great new series, Carson Crime Files. The Scheme pulled me deep into its world of espionage, financial crime, and deep-seated grudges the moment I read the first page.
Katherine Carson a former intelligence operative turned private detective is hired to find a man’s missing daughter. Jonathan Ames and his daughter Olivia were supposed to spend the weekend together at their home in Delaware. Olivia is a student at Johns Hopkins University and comes home on the weekends. But this one weekend Olivia called to say she wouldn’t be able to make it home this weekend as she would be busy with her research.
Jonathan didn’t think anything about Olivia canceling but when he had a business meeting in Baltimore he called her to see if she had time for dinner. When she didn’t answer he went to her apartment she wasn’t home. Jonathan became suspicious about her disappearance and called Katherine Carson to find her.
The evidence from Katherine’s investigation into Olivia’s disappearance makes it appear that the boyfriend did it. After further inquiry into Olivia's missing things start to take a deeper turn that takes Katherine back to her past involving cases she worked on before.
Can Katherine find Olivia before it is too late? Where is Olivia? Did her boyfriend take her? Or was it someone else? What is going on? Is this a simple case of a missing person? Or is something more sinister going on?
The Scheme is filled with suspense and mystery that keeps the pages turning with many twists and turns. It will have you racing to the end wondering where Olivia is and why she is missing. I can’t wait to read more about Katherine and her cases in the next book in the Carson Crime Files.
I highly recommend picking up a copy of The Scheme today if you love a great mystery!
- Reviewed in the United States on September 16, 2024The people and events are so easily pictured with the detailed descriptions. The plot takes some unexpected turns as every good mystery does. The Carson Investigation Team is a likable group with great instincts. I am so looking forward to the next book in the series.
- Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2024This was difficult for me to get into at first, partially because it was a bit wordy. I appreciate the want to describe things but it was almost distracting. That being said, I was sucked into the story and wanted to find out what happened next. I couldn't figure out what was going on which was part of the desire to keep going. Once the conclusion presented itself, the pieces finally started to fall together and the story line made sense. A bit choppy with transitions at times but overall a good suspense story. I would read the next volume.
- Reviewed in the United States on November 4, 2024I pretty much knew who did it from the start...BUT having said that, it was a good story to figure out who else was involved and why. Everyone seemed to have an agenda and nailing all of them was a job. The characters are good. Strong but flawed. I think the way it left off for the next one will be a good one.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.