Dr Kay Scarpetta returns to the city that turned its back on her five years ago. Richmond, Virginia’s recently appointed chief medical examiner claims that he needs Scarpetta’s help to solve a perplexing crime. When she arrives, however, Scarpetta finds that nothing is as she expected: her former lab is in the final stages of demolition; the inept chief isn’t the one who requested her after all; her old assistant chief has developed personal problems that he won’t reveal; and a glamorous FBI agent, whom Scarpetta dislikes instantly, meddles with the case.

Scarpetta is faced with investigating the death of a fourteen-year-old girl, working with the smallest pieces of evidence - traces that only the most thorough hunters can identify. She must track the strange details in order to make the dead speak - and reveal the sad truth that may be more than even she can bear.