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Content snapshot
Flag an inaccuracy →What's in this book, at a glance — five things readers want to know before they start.
Violence
Some
Cold case child murder investigation; moderate thriller tension
Language
Barely any
Mild to moderate language
Sexual Content
Barely any
No significant sexual content
Substance Use
Barely any
Minimal substance use
Emotional Intensity
A lot
Strong psychological weight; child victim; long-buried trauma; dual-timeline structure adds dread
What this book is about
In 1988, a young man named Michael Sutton approaches Kinsey Millhone with a memory: as a child in 1967, he saw two men burying something in the hills. He believes it was the body of a kidnapped girl whose case was never solved. Kinsey investigates in parallel narratives — one in the present, one unraveling the 1967 events — in one of Grafton's most structurally ambitious alphabet mysteries.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Child murder cold case
Dual timeline
Childhood memory and trauma
Reader Verification
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