Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Laura Lippman s Tess Monaghan first introduced in the classic Baltimore Blues returns in an investigation that will test the PI like never before and take her down a harrowing path of suspense and danger.

Five lives in Maryland have been brutally destroyed over the past six years five unsolved homicides, seemingly unconnected except for the suspicion that each death was the result of domestic violence. In hot water and court-ordered therapy Tess Monaghan accepts an assignment from a local nonprofit organization, agreeing to review police documents on each case for inconsistencies and investigative blunders.

But it turns out that a psychopath can hide as easily in the fabric of a tiny fishing community as in the alleys and shadows of Charm City. Because another common thread to five senseless murders is beginning to emerge and it s Tess Monaghan herself."