by J.D. Robb
Part of In Death, book 54
First published 2022
Detective Eve Dallas discovers a woman's corpse on a playground bench in New York City. The victim appears pristine at first glance, with perfect hair and makeup. But closer inspection reveals disturbing details: fresh tattoos and piercings, clothing from decades past, and a fatal neck wound concealed by ribbon. A crayon note reading "Bad Mommy" suggests a killer driven by childhood trauma. Eve recognizes the signs of an abusive past, having survived one herself. The evidence points to a perpetrator around sixty years old, yet no similar crimes exist in police records. As more young women disappear, Eve realizes she faces an urgent race against time. She must navigate into hidden concrete spaces, dig through buried history, and penetrate a fractured psyche to save the remaining victims. The case forces Eve to confront how childhood wounds can fester across decades before exploding into violence.
Genres: mystery, crime, detective, psychological-thriller
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: detective-story, police-procedural, serial-killer
Setting: New York City
Period: Contemporary
356 pages · Hardcover · St. Martin's Press
Content warnings: abuse, child-abuse, violence