Hired by the daughters of local writer Melody Chambers to investigate her death, believing she was murdered, Natalka and Edwin go undercover at a creative writing weekend at isolated Battle House where another murder occurs and by the time Edwin infiltrates a sinister book group, he finds himself in danger.

"From the New York Times bestselling author of We Begin at the End comes an epic novel about a man fixated on finding a missing woman and the FBI agent on his tail, who might be even more obsessed than he is"--

A serial killer is strangling young women and dumping their lifeless bodies in the steep forested ravines of southern Indiana. With each corpse he leaves a calling card: a stone figureine wedged deep inside the victim's throat. FBI forensic anthropologist Christine Prusik saw such figurines placed inside the bodies of the dead years ago when researching in Papua New Guinea. Is someone trying to send Christine a message?

"Forensic anthropologist Christine Prusik has a knack for solving the most unusual cases--and for bending the rules in the process. When the bodies of young women start appearing in the caves of Indiana and Illinois, Christine immediately jumps into action. But her Chicago field office is undergoing a reorganization, and the boys' club at the top seem more interested in getting all the paperwork in order than solving the murders. Christine isn't going...