by Ace Atkins
Part of Spenser, book 48
First published 2021
Mattie Sullivan remembers when Spenser helped her find her mother's killer ten years ago. Now a college student working part-time for the Boston private investigator, she wants to become a detective herself. When her childhood friend Chloe Turner from the South Boston projects turns up dead, Mattie convinces the family to let her take the case. She starts asking questions that make dangerous people nervous. Spenser joins the investigation when they discover Turner's death connects to dozens of other girls from poor families. The trail leads to a wealthy eccentric who owns a mansion on Commonwealth Avenue and maintains properties across Massachusetts. His political connections reach the statehouse and beyond. As winter settles over Boston, Spenser and his partner Hawk must protect Mattie while she exposes a sex trafficking operation. The case takes them from Boston streets to the Bahamas, where they face local criminals and Spenser's old nemesis, the Gray Man, in a final confrontation.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, thriller, detective, action
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family, investigation
Setting: Bahamas, Boston, Commonwealth Avenue, Massachusetts, South Boston
Period: Winter
320 pages · Hardcover · G.P. Putnam's Sons
Content warnings: trafficking, violence