Part of Nikki Heat, book 4
First published 2012
Detective Nikki Heat stares at a corpse stuffed inside a suitcase in a freezer truck. The stabbed woman remains unidentified, but something about this case strikes Heat as familiar. Then the connection becomes clear. This murder links directly to the killing of Heat's own mother, a case that went cold over ten years ago when Nikki was nineteen. Working alongside journalist Jameson Rook, her investigative partner and romantic interest, Heat pursues leads that force her into unexplored corners of her mother's past. Someone wants Heat dead for getting too close to the truth. The investigation takes Heat and Rook from Manhattan's back streets to Paris as they chase a killer who has stayed hidden for years. Heat must confront family secrets she has avoided and examine parts of her mother's life she never knew existed. The frozen body has thawed her mother's cold case, but solving it means facing truths that could destroy everything Heat believed about her family.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, investigation, personal-connection
Setting: Manhattan, Paris
Period: Present Day
309 pages · Paperback International Edition · Hyperion
Content warnings: death, murder