Part of Alexandra Cooper, book 13
First published 2011
Prosecutor Alexandra Cooper receives a midnight call to Harlem's Mount Neboh Baptist Church. A young woman's decapitated body burns on the church steps. The corpse bears only one clue: a Star of David necklace burned into her flesh. Alex questions whether the killer wanted to hide the body or display it. Days later, a second corpse appears at a Little Italy cathedral. The murders resemble serial hate crimes, but the victims' different religious backgrounds rule out obvious motives. Alex believes another woman will die soon. She searches Manhattan's religious institutions for connections between the victims. Her investigation leads her into New York's powerful religious world, where she discovers a dangerous truth that puts her own life at risk.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, thriller
Vibes: dark, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, investigation
Setting: Harlem, Mount Neboh Baptist Church, Little Italy, Manhattan
Period: 21st-century
400 pages · Hardcover · Dutton
Content warnings: violence