Two separate homicides, at different locations, with unrelated victims, have more in common than just being investigated by Boston PD detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles. In both cases, the bodies bear startling wounds—yet the actual cause of death is unknown.

It’s a doubly challenging case for the cop and the coroner to be taking on, at a fraught time for both of them. As Jane struggles to save her mother from the crumbling marriage that threatens to bury her, Maura grapples with the imminent death of her own mother—infamous serial killer Amalthea Lank.

While Jane tends to her mother, there’s nothing Maura can do for Amalthea, except endure one final battle of wills with the woman whose shadow has haunted her all her life.

Though succumbing to cancer, Amalthea hasn’t lost her taste for manipulating her estranged daughter—this time by dangling a cryptic clue about the two bizarre murders Maura and Jane are desperately trying to solve.

But whatever the dying convict knows is only a piece of the puzzle. Soon the investigation leads to a secretive young woman who survived a shocking abuse scandal, an independent horror film that may be rooted in reality, and a slew of martyred saints who died cruel and unusual deaths.

And just when Rizzoli and Isles think they’ve cornered a devilish predator, the long-buried past rears its head—and threatens to engulf more innocent lives, including their own.


兩名毫無關係的受害者在不同地點遭人謀殺。這兩起看似無關的謀殺案，其實共通點比波士頓警局的簡．黎佐利警探和莫拉．艾勒斯法醫所調查到的還多。兩起謀殺案中死者身上都有可怕的傷口，但真正死因仍不明。

這個案件對警探以及法醫來說是極大的挑戰，也讓兩人處在令人緊張不安的氛圍中。簡努力想拯救她的母親，逃離危及性命的破碎婚姻，同時，莫拉面對自己即將去世的母親瑪汐雅．蘭卡這惡名昭彰的連續殺人犯，內心仍十分掙扎。

簡選擇袒護自己的母親，但莫拉對母親蘭卡已無能為力，只能與糾纏她一生的母親進行意志最終戰。

雖受癌症所苦，蘭卡依然以操縱與自己不和的女兒為樂。這次是以兩起離奇命案的關鍵線索做為交換條件，而這正是莫拉和簡拼命想解決的謀殺案。

但是蘭卡知道的只是謎團一角。很快地調查全指向一名神秘的年輕女子，她從一起駭人的虐待事件中存活下來。這起虐待事件就像恐怖電影在現實中上演般駭人，另外還有一些殉道聖人也離奇慘死。