Dr. Samantha Owens is starting over: new city, new man, new life. She's trying to put some distance between herself and the devastating loss of her husband and children -- but the old hurts leave scars. Before she has a chance to settle into her new position in Georgetown University's forensic pathology department, she's called to consult on three murders caused by an unknown pathogen in Metro Washington.

When Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles are summoned to a crime scene, they find a killing worthy of the most ferocious beast--right down to the claw marks on the corpse. But only the most sinister human hands could have left renowned big-game hunter and taxidermist Leon Gott gruesomely displayed like the once-proud animals whose heads adorn his walls. Did Gott unwittingly awaken a predator more dangerous than...

"If you are reading this letter, I am dead and I would be most grateful if you could solve my murder..." When Owens receives a letter from a dead man imploring her to solve his murder, there's only one catch: Timothy Savage's death was so obviously the suicide of a demented individual that the case has been closed. A postmortem discovers clear signs that Savage was indeed murdered. And she finds DNA from a kidnapped child whose remains were recovered...

"Death by Rum Running... It's the hot and humid East Coast summer of 1930 and five years since Dr. Haley Higgins' brother Joe was murdered. The case has grown cold. The Boston Police Department may have given up on finding Joe Higgins' killer, but Haley never will. She's serious and savvy and has what it takes to hold up under depressive times. At least she finds some satisfaction doing her part as the city pathologist's assistant in solving other...

Captain Austin Rainey knows all too well that being a good cop sometimes means gaining some bad enemies. After his ex-wife is killed, he finds himself on the wrong side of the law, trying to prove he's innocent of her murder. The last thing he needs is a distraction-especially of the irresistible female kind... Medical examiner Laura Eden has always found Austin more than a little intriguing, but she's kept her feelings under wraps. Now she's determined...

"Detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles go into the wild to find a killer. After linking a recent Boston crime to a series of unsolved homicides in wilderness areas across the country and the killings of tourists in the bush of Botswana six years earlier, they plot to cage the hunter before he strikes again"-- Provided by publisher.