After two women are killed, medical examiner Maura Isles and homicide detective Jane Rizzoli uncover an ancient horror in a cloistered convent that leads them toward a dawning revelation about the killer's identity -- one that's too shattering to consider.

Barbara Butcher was recovering from addiction problems and unhappy relationships when she landed a job at the Medical Examiner's Office in New York City. The second woman ever hired for the role of Death Investigator in Manhattan, she was the first to last more than three months. The work was gritty and demanding, sometimes dangerous. And she loved it. In a voice full of attitude, a real New Yorker some might say, Barbara writes about what it was...

Returning to Seattle after a business trip, retired PI Leo Waterman is shocked to find his girlfriend, Rebecca Duvall, unconscious on the bathroom floor, her house filled with gas. Officials believe it was a suicide attempt in the wake of a humiliating scandal. Under investigation for dereliction of duty, she'd been suspended from her job as medical examiner for King County. But for Leo, unearthing the truth is going to trap him in a conspiracy that...