By the River's Edge: A True Story of Identity and Serial Murder

The decades-long manhunt for a serial killer takes a stunning turn in a haunting and harrowing true crime shocker by Gregg Olsen, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of If You Tell.

In 1990 in Washington state, the bodies of Yolanda Sapp, Nickie Lowe, and Kathy Brisbois were found on the banks of the Spokane River. They were part of a close-knit alliance of sex workers whose oath to protect each other was, in the end, hopeless. For twenty-two years their brutal murders went unsolved.

In 2012, a DNA cold hit pointed to Douglas Perry. A repeat assault offender, Douglas was currently incarcerated in Carswell, Texas. But there was a twist: The facility was for female prisoners. The man authorities hunted for decades was now Donna Perry. Her gender reassignment not only helped to mask the evil deeds of the past, it ended a life of childhood traumas and a pent-up rage unleashed on nearly thirty victims, according to Donna herself. Through total reinvention, she believed she’d finally slayed the monster within.

By the River’s Edge is the astonishing true story of an elusive serial killer, an escape plan like no other, and the women who lived and died on the fringes of the Lilac City for whom justice was at long last served.

I live in rural Washington State (a mile as the crow flies from Dr. Hazzard's infamous Starvation Heights sanitarium). My thriller, THE LAST THING SHE EVER DID, was an Amazon Charts bestseller. LYING NEXT TO ME was a reader favorite, charting at No. 1 in the Kindle store and the bestseller's list at the Washington Post. My true crime book, IF YOU TELL, found a home on Amazon Charts for more than 340 weeks. In fact, it was the bestselling Kindle ebook of 2020 (and the second-bestselling of 2021). THE AMISH WIFE was a finalist for the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for best fact crime book in 2025, and OUT OF THE WOODS held the same distinction in 2026. OUT OF THE WOODS was also a nominee for Book of the Year at Crime Con. THE BOY SHE LEFT BEHIND was a finalist for the International Thriller Writers of America Thriller Award for best juvenile novel. I have been a guest on Dateline NBC, NPR, Good Morning America, Early Show, FOX News, CNN, Anderson Cooper, Entertainment Tonight, Inside Edition, Extra, Access Hollywood, 20/20, Snapped, Deadly Women, William Shatner's Aftermath, and A&E's Biography.