A forensic artist investigating the murder of her friend must go deep into the insular birdwatching community in this stylish, gruesomely thrilling series debut.

As a forensic artist for the NYPD, Cassie Stefanidis must rely on the memories of others to capture her subjects. At her best, she can draw only flawed doubles—like fraternal twins of the perpetrators, or their spirit photographs. When the body of her friend, Ginny Haberman, is discovered on a wet spit of sand in Jamaica Bay, however, Cassie has a feeling that she herself has seen the killer. Signs suggest that the murderer knew the victim, but poor Ginny barely knew anyone—even within the rather insular, and decidedly eccentric, Manhattan birdwatching community that meant the world to her.

Using nothing but her wits—and with the grudging help of her volatile ex-husband, Homicide Detective Del Gutierrez—Cassie feels driven to track down the killer, a life-or-death chase that leads her into the darkness of the past and, ultimately, to the other side of the mirror.

Calling forth Thomas Harris’s indelible Clarice Starling and the gruesome horror-crime novels of John Connolly, Bone Black renders 1980s New York City in scorched inks and unremitting danger as one out-of-place woman’s obsession for the truth may be her first, and last, calling.

In this twisty, blood-chilling, and stylish debut psychological thriller set in 1980s New York City, a forensic artist investigates the murder of her closest friend but gets trapped in the nest of a seductive and strange ornithologist.

“A dark and beautifully rendered novel, Bone Black is a must-read. It will resonate with fans of Thomas Harris and David Fincher.” —James Kestrel, Edgar-winning author of Five Decembers

As a forensic artist for the NYPD, Cassie Stefanidis doesn’t hunt killers, she draws them. Relying on the flawed memories of others to capture her subjects, at her best, she can draw only doubles—like fraternal twins of the perpetrators. But when the body of her closest friend, Ginny Haberman, is discovered on a wet spit of sand in Jamaica Bay, Cassie decides to go beyond her easel and into the investigation herself. She begins her search in the basement birding club that Ginny attended religiously, every Wednesday night. There, she meets an uncannily brilliant ornithologist—the last person Ginny talked to before she was murdered—and Cassie’s suspicions pull her deeper and deeper into the odd, hidden world of birds and their avid adherents.

With the grudging help of Cassie’s ex-husband, homicide detective Del Gutierrez, who feeds Cassie various leads from the inside, Cassie flings herself into a life-or-death, puzzling chase through the streets of Manhattan—one that leads her into the darkness of her own past, and face to face with a dangerous, obsessive killer.