Ava James and the Forgotten Bones

Agent Ava James has settled into her new field office in Harlan, just outside Washington, D.C. In the middle of that upheaval her mother goes missing somewhere in South Africa, leaving Ava and her father distraught. Ava is pulled out of the field, placed on the Cold Case Initiative, and forbidden to look for her. To keep herself from doing something rash, she buries herself in work.

One cold case pulls at her: Hidden Cove. A young married couple — the husband murdered in his own living room, the wife vanished without a trace. Recently another young couple moved into that same house with their three-year-old daughter. Both were found murdered, leaving the child orphaned. Is there a killer loose in the community? Are the two cases connected?

When Ava is sent to the small Kentucky town, she finds the only thing colder than the mid-December weather is her reception. The locals distrust an outsider, the case throws up one dead end after another, and Ava is blindsided by what happens next.