Twenty-four years ago, teen prodigy Thea Janis vanished from her upper crust Boston prep school. At first, called a runaway, she's later named among the victims of a serial killer, a man doing life in Walpole Prison. Then, a new manuscript appears in her family's mailbox. The words cry out from the printed pages, Thea's voice unmistakable even a quarter century since the girl's mysterious disappearance. A new client bearing a dead man's name turns up in the office of P.I. Carlotta Carlyle, looking for her help in finding whoever is sending the book - even if it turns out to be Thea herself. The investigation leads Carlotta to a prominent Boston family, with deep connections and even deeper pockets, and which badly wants the tragic past to stay buried. But, after a hit man tries to write his own ending to the saga, the cold case suddenly goes white hot - and Carlotta may be the one who ends up getting burned.
- ISBN10 0340597739
- ISBN13 9780340597736
- Publish Date 26 August 1998 (first published 10 March 1997)
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 29 January 2003
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Hodder & Stoughton
- Imprint Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 405
- Language English