The Third Grave

Savannah, Georgia, is the setting for this crime novel about Nikki, a crime writer, and Reed, her detective husband, who are reopening an old case. A killer they are still chasing has not finished what he started. The Beaumont mansion has long since fallen into disrepair, and a hurricane that batters the state leaves it in even worse shape. The storm tears off shutters and roof tiles and uncovers something in the cellar: three graves, but only two sets of remains.

For Nikki, the find is a ready-made story for her next book, even though Reed has asked her to stay out of risky police work. Their relationship grows more strained, yet she cannot let the case go. Locals soon claim the grave holds the Duval sisters, three girls who set off for the movies with their older brother, Owen, two decades ago and never came home. Forensic analysis identifies the remains as Holly and Poppy Duval, which leaves the question of where the youngest sister, Rose, is.

Owen has been the main suspect from the start, regardless of his alibi. As Nikki and Reed look more closely, the official account begins to crack. The sisters' disappearance is more tangled than anyone imagined, and those deaths may have been only the first in a longer pattern. The killer will go to any lengths to keep the truth hidden.