A Deeper Darkness

Samantha Owens works as a medical examiner, and her job is to determine how people died. Since the Tennessee floods took her husband and children, she has been stuck in a grief that long hours at the morgue have not eased. Then a call arrives from Washington, D.C., from the mother of a former boyfriend, asking Sam to perform a second autopsy on her son.

Eddie Donovan, a former Ranger, has been recorded as a carjacking victim, but Sam's examination suggests he was killed for reasons that had nothing to do with his vehicle. Reopening the case forces her to face memories of another person she loved who was brutally murdered, and she immerses herself in the notes Donovan left behind. Those notes point to a truth in which everyone involved has something to hide, and understanding a killing can mean placing herself in danger.

This is the first book in the Sam Owens series, originally published in 2012. Readers who finish it can continue with Her Dark Lies, the next thriller from J.T. Ellison, a New York Times bestselling author.