When two children make a grisly discovery on Sconset beach, Detective Meredith Folger finds herself with a perplexing case on her hands. The crime lab can tell her only that the newly unearthed skeletal remains belonged to a woman who was strangled to death somewhere between two and ten years ago--a conclusion that sends Merry sifting through old missing-persons files. But then a shocking piece of news changes everything.

The Massachusetts police have arrested a man they believe to be a serial killer. His five known victims were all women--all strangled. Is Merry's Nantucket skeleton the killer's first victim? And do the state cops have the right man? When the murderer strikes again, he'll draw Merry into a deadly cat and mouse game in which she's the final target....