by Kathy Reichs
Part of Temperance Brennan, book 15
First published 2012
A woman named Amy Roberts vanishes from a Montreal hospital after showing signs of recent childbirth. Police find bloodied towels in a dumpster near the address she provided. Forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan arrives at the rundown apartment to discover three decomposing infant bodies. The landlord knows the tenant as Alma Rogers, but another man seeks someone called Alva Rodriguez. Tempe suspects all three names belong to the same woman. Homicide Detective Andrew Ryan leads the investigation alongside RCMP Sergeant Ollie Hasty. Both men share complicated romantic histories with Tempe. The team tracks their suspect from Montreal to Edmonton, then north to Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories. This remote diamond mining settlement holds secrets darker than infanticide. Tempe must navigate dangerous terrain both professional and personal as the case exposes corruption in the high stakes world of diamond extraction.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: dark, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: Edmonton, Montreal, Northwest Territories, Yellowknife
Period: 21st-century
283 pages · Hardcover · Scribner
Content warnings: child-death, graphic-violence, murder