After receiving a lead from an unlikely source, Juliana, the mortician tasked with the bodies of victims of the "Carolina Creeper", the South’s most notorious serial killer in decades, sets off to New Orleans in search of Theresa Morris, an heiress and presumably the Creeper’s only surviving victim.
Theresa now goes by “Tess” and is a shadow of her former heiress self. She’s also being pursued by famous novelist Michael, who sets his sights on Tess as the muse of his work-in-progress, oblivious to her former identity.
As Michael gets closer to Tess and begins to put the pieces of her traumatic past together, Juliana zeroes in on her whereabouts. They don’t know it, but the three of them are on a collision course, hurtling straight into the Creeper’s path.
Melissa Marr is a former university literature instructor who writes fiction for adults, teens, and children. Her books have been translated into twenty-eight languages and been bestsellers internationally as well as domestically (NY Times, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal).
Accolades include YALSA Popular Paperbacks, IRA Notable Book Pick, Book Sense Pick, Good Morning America Summer Pick for Teens, Scottish Book Trust, Red Maple finalist (in both Ontario and Manitoba), and Goodreads Good Choice Award (Horror), RWA RITA award (YA). She is best known for the Wicked Lovely series for teens, the Graveminder for adults, and her debut picturebook Bunny Roo, I Love You. She currently lives with her family in Arizona.