These Ancient Bones

In St. Augustine, Florida, the body of investigative journalist George Maynard has been found in his home, burned so badly that the morgue is needed to confirm who he was. He was a whistle-blower, so there is no shortage of people who might have wanted him silenced. The case draws in a special unit that works off the books and handles the strange cases other agencies would rather not touch. It is known as the Krewe of Hunters.

Shelly Mahoney is a paranormal investigator newly transferred to the unit. At the crime scene, working beside federal agent Grant Markham, she finds a stone carved with what looks like a curse calling down fire. Shelly can summon the dead, as long as they have stayed behind, and Grant can see what happened to a person by holding the hand of someone recently deceased. This time, though, neither gift gets them anywhere.

With their talents stalled, the two question anyone who might have had a motive and dig into the history of curse tablets, objects the Greco-Roman world used to bring about death or war. A startling finding by the medical examiner sends the team to Italy, where a similar killing could point to whoever made the tablets and the human hands that turned them deadly.

The trail leads back home faster than anyone expects, because the next target may be Shelly herself. Pitched as The X-Files meets Dan Brown, this is a story of dark magic, ancient curses and modern murder, part of Heather Graham's Krewe of Hunters series.