Two murder investigations, decades apart, threaten to expose a cold case agent’s darkest secrets in a pulse-pounding thriller by the Edgar Award–nominated author of The Taken Ones.

The bodies of three teenage girls are found in central Minnesota—each with her mouth fixed in a ghoulish grin, smiling at a deadly joke no one can hear. But authorities eventually close and forget the curious case, dubbed the Laughing Dead.

Decades later, cold case agent Evangeline “Van” Reed is called to the scene of a crime where the victim wears that same horror-movie smile. But this time someone seems to be sending a message: Van’s police ID has turned up at the scene, making her the prime suspect. It’s not that outlandish, considering her secrets—ones she’s never even told her partner, forensic scientist Harry Steinbeck.

As she feels others closing in, Van reopens the mystery of the Laughing Dead, hoping to find a connection to clear her name. But the search only gets darker. Because the more Van digs backward in time, the closer she comes to a terrible truth: Everything she has spent her life trying to hide is returning to haunt her.

Jess Lourey is the Amazon Charts bestselling author of The Quarry Girls, Unspeakable Things, Litani, and Bloodline, as well as the Reed and Steinbeck thrillers, the Salem’s Cipher novels, and the Murder by Month rom-com mysteries. Lourey writes about secrets, fosters kittens, and travels. She’s surpassed a million readers; been short-listed for the Goodreads Choice Awards and the Edgar Award twice each; and won the International Thriller, Anthony, and Minnesota Book Awards. She also has an active reader group on Facebook called Lourey’s Literati. For more information, including a link to her TEDx Talk, in which she discusses the surprising inspiration behind her writing career, visit www.jesslourey.com.