by Dell Shannon
Part of Lieutenant Luis Mendoza, book 10
First published 1992
A headless female body surfaces in a Southern California lake, and Lt. Luis Mendoza of LAPD homicide draws the case. Without a face or fingerprints, Mendoza must first discover who this woman was before he can track down whoever killed her. The corpse offers few clues beyond the brutal method used to conceal her identity. Mendoza works through missing persons reports and dental records while the investigation spreads across Los Angeles. Each lead takes him deeper into the victim's hidden life and closer to a killer who thought removing her head would erase all traces of murder. This tenth case tests Mendoza's detective skills as he reconstructs an identity from fragments.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: dark, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: detective-story, hidden-identity
Setting: Los Angeles, Southern California
Period: 20th-century
Paperback · Curley Pub
Content warnings: death, graphic-violence, murder