In a small upstate New York town, an idyllic lake yields a ghastly discovery when the skeletal remains of a young woman missing for twenty-seven years are pulled from the icy depthsalong with unmistakable evidence of her murder. Suddenly, the long-dormant case of Kelly McShane Bradens mysterious disappearance is reactivated. And for two devastated men, dark emotions and disturbing secrets will also rise to the surface.
For local coroner Dr. Mark Roper, the murder is more than just a grim interruption of his general practice in sleepy Hampton Junction. Kelly Braden had been a surrogate sister. When the police insist the trail of Kellys disappearance is too cold to pick up again, he vows to find the missing pieces of the past that will lead him to a killer. Because thats what cracks cold cases: One guy who cant get it out of his head.
Yet Mark isnt the only one with Kellys murder on his mind. Dr. Earl Garnet, chief of staff at Buffalos St. Pauls Hospital, was once Kellys secret lover . . . and would-be savior. Until his plans to rescue her from an abusive marriage were cut short by her vanishing. Now, as the last person to see Kelly alive, hes in danger of becoming the prime suspect, unless he can unmask the murderer first.
But neither man knows about the twisted chain of lies and corruption that led to Kellys deathor the shocking revelations that were meant to go with her to a watery grave. And the harder they push for answers, the easier they make it for their lethal quarry to zero in on themand push back with deadly force.
With Mortal Remains, Peter Clement remains in total control of readers nerves from the very first page, once more wielding heart-racing suspense and scalpel-sharp terror with a master surgeons skill.
From the Hardcover edition.