Four young women have been found murdered—tortured and strangled in their own beds—all victims of the same brilliant monster. Using a skilled hand and the latest technology in forensic medicine, Kay Scarpetta begins the process of gathering the microscopic clues the latest battered body has to give.

Forensic pathologist Dr. Kay Scarpetta has come almost full circle, returning to Virginia, the state where she launched her storied career, as the chief medical examiner. Finding herself the new girl in town once again after being away for many years, she’s inherited both an overbearing secretary and a legacy of neglect and potential corruption.

Vielleicht ist es nächsten Samstag schon zu spät... Dr. Kay Scarpetta, seit Kurzem Leiterin der Gerichtsmedizin in Richmond, Virginia, erhält frühmorgens einen Anruf von Sergeant Pete Marino von der Mordkommission: "Mr. Nobody" hat wieder zugeschlagen, ein grausamer Serienkiller, der Frauen erwürgt – immer am Samstagmorgen und ohne jedes erkennbare Motiv. Auch scheint es zwischen den Opfern keine Verbindung zu geben. Scarpetta greift bei ihren Ermittlungen auf die neuesten Erkenntnisse der forensischen Forschung zurück.

It's June in Montreal, and Dr. Temperance Brennan, who has left a shaky marriage back home in North Carolina to take on the challenging assignment of Director of Forensic Anthropology for the province of Quebec, looks forward to a relaxing weekend in beautiful Quebec City. First, though, she must stop at a newly uncovered burial site in the heart of the city. The remains are probably old and only of archeological interest, but Tempe must make sure they're not a case for the police. One look at the decomposed and decapitated corpse, stored neatly in plastic bags, tells her she'll spend the weekend in the crime lab.

Dr. Morton Handler practiced a strange brand of psychiatry. Among his specialties were fraud, extortion, and sexual manipulation. Handler paid for his sins when he was brutally murdered in his luxurious Pacific Palisades apartment. The police have no leads, but they do have one possible witness: seven-year-old Melody Quinn.