A bueatiful young woman's corpse is found dumped in a garbage-strewn alley. Now laid out in the office of medical examiner Kat Novak, the unidentified body betrays no secrets--except for a matchbook clutched in one stiff hand, seven numbers scrawled inside. When a second victim is discovered, Kat begins to fear that a serial killer is stalking the streets, using a deadly drug to do his dirty work. The police are skeptical. The mayor won't listen....

Returning home from a trip to Paris, Boston medical examiner Maura Isles confronts a nightmarish scene. Police cruisers line her street and slumped in a car at the end of Maura's driveway is a dead woman, her head bloodied by a gunshot wound. Cops and neighbors gape at her as she approaches. Only when Maura looks at the victim does she understand why everyone is so shocked by her arrival. The dead woman looks exactly like Maura. Within a week, the...

When a mummy surfaces in Boston, medical examiner Maura Isles is shocked to learn the corpse is a recent crime victim.