Someone is murdering beautiful young women in the New York area and displaying them in mausoleums and underground tombs. The FBI is handling the case, with Special Agent Craig Frasier as lead. Kieran Finnegan, forensic psychologist and part owner of Finnegan's, her family's pub, is consulting on the case. Craig and Kieran are a couple who've worked together on more than one occasion. On this occasion, though, Craig fears for the safety of the woman...

In a community theater in Boulder, Colorado, a man is tortured and left to bleed to death atop a concert piano. Psychologist-investigator Dr. Alan Gregory, a friend of the victim, finds that the man's belongings point to a mysterious hidden life. By the author of Higher Authority.

Following the death of DS Mel Silver, the Cold Case Unit is still in shock. The already intense DCI Boyd is clearly rocked by the loss of a valuable team member and now has a case that questions his own abilities. So it is left to Grace and Spence to try to keep the team stable and integrate the new members of the unit.

Forensics draws on interviews with some of these top-level professionals, ground-breaking research, and McDermid's own original interviews and firsthand experience on scene with top forensic scientists.