The Virginia chief medical examiner is pitted against an audacious and wily killer who uses fire to mask his crimes.

Ford Cardwell is shocked when his college crush calls him out of the blue-even more so when he hears a gunshot. But when he joins forces with medical examiner Henrietta "Hitch" Rogers, she makes him wonder if the random call was a setup-not a murder. Together, they'll need to discover the truth, but looking into the case will put them in the sights of a killer.

Forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta has just inherited one of the most notorious cases of her career. Two years ago, a former beauty queen's body washed up on the shore of Wallops Island, Virginia. She was last seen on a boat with her fianč, who has since been held in jail while awaiting trial. Scarpetta must act as the expert witness for the case, an investigation previously botched by another forensic pathologist. After a grueling cross-examination...

On a bone-chilling October night, Medical Examiner Rowan Winthorp investigates the death of her daughter's best friend. Hours later, the tragedy hits even closer to home when she makes a devastating discovery--her daughter, Chloe, is gone. But, not without a trace. A morbid mosaic of clues forces Rowan and her husband to question how deeply they really knew their daughter. As they work closely to peel back the layers of this case, they begin to unearth...