Arizona County Sheriff Joanna Brady solves her biggest case yet, from a body in the desert to crimes spanning decades and countries.

Sheriff Joanna Brady is looking forward to the holidays with her busy family, and to celebrating her daughter Jenny’s graduation from the police academy. But the family is interrupted when a body is discovered beneath a flooded bridge in the Arizona desert, and Joanna is called onto the case. A young boy was murdered, and the details of the crime scene tell Joanna two things: This was not the killer’s first murder. And it’s only a matter of time before he kills again.

As Joanna digs deeper into the case, she begins to understand this murder is just one piece of a much, much bigger puzzle. She uncovers unlikely connections between cases of mysterious deaths and missing persons, having long since gone cold, that extend far beyond the confines of her small town and include the discovery of a body near Devil’s Lake, North Dakota. To get justice for the victims and to save the town of Bisbee from a predator, Joanna must chase down every dangerous lead.

Meanwhile, as a dogged journalist is circling the case and privileged information is leaked, Joanna can’t be sure who to trust. Could a prolific killer be hiding in plain sight? And how far will that person go to keep his many crimes hidden?

For years I’ve been a follower of true crime shows on TV. In the process, I’ve been able to educate myself on the many changes taking place in terms of forensic science. All of which comes in handy if you happen to be a former school librarian now writing police procedurals.

Over that time, I’ve also learned a good deal about serial killers. The worst of those usually start young, and they avoid being caught by putting on a mask of humanity and living apparently normal lives. That’s Stephen Roper to a T. We first meet him as an eleven year-old when he callously murders his step-grandmother—and gets away with it.

For Sheriff Joanna Brady, Thanksgiving dinner takes a dark turn when the body of a young child in a duffel bag is found caught in flood debris under a highway bridge in the small town of St. David, Arizona. Once the victim is identified as Xavier Francisco Delgado, a boy from across the line in Mexico, Joanna and her team launch off on a search for his killer.

As their investigation reveals more and more victims, Joanna finally has to come to the hard realization that a serial killer, masquerading as a harmless schoolteacher, has lived in Bisbee for decades without anyone knowing who he really is or what he does during his summer vacations. In the end, Joanna must rally all her troops and use every skill she’s learned through the years to bring a monster to justice and to provide answers for grieving families all over the country.

JA