First published 2025
Detective Leanne Everhart vowed never to return to her hometown near Marfa, Texas. When her brother calls for help after their father's death, she finds herself back in the desert art community she left behind. The town still reels from a decades-old murder case that recently fell apart due to a wrongful conviction. The popular local teenager's killer remains free. Leanne catches a new case when a woman's body turns up at the desert's edge. The victim has no identification and no apparent connections to the area. As Leanne examines the evidence, patterns emerge that connect this fresh murder to the unsolved teenager case. She discovers multiple cold cases involving unnamed women that her department shelved without pursuing leads. The killer has operated for twenty years, targeting women who lack money, status, or local connections. Each attack grows more brazen than the last. Leanne faces resistance from colleagues and community members as she pursues connections between the cases. She must track down a predator who has learned to exploit the town's blind spots and social divisions.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, detective
Vibes: atmospheric, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, fish-out-of-water, returning-home
Setting: Marfa, Texas
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
355 pages · Hardcover · Berkley
Content warnings: murder, violence