In this twisty, blood-chilling, and stylish debut psychological thriller set in 1980s New York City, a forensic artist investigates the murder of her closest friend but gets trapped in the nest of a seductive and strange ornithologist.

“A dark and beautifully rendered novel, Bone Black is a must-read. It will resonate with fans of Thomas Harris and David Fincher.” —James Kestrel, Edgar-winning author of Five Decembers

As a forensic artist for the NYPD, Cassie Stefanidis doesn’t hunt killers, she draws them. Relying on the flawed memories of others to capture her subjects, at her best, she can draw only doubles—like fraternal twins of the perpetrators. But when the body of her closest friend, Ginny Haberman, is discovered on a wet spit of sand in Jamaica Bay, Cassie decides to go beyond her easel and into the investigation herself. She begins her search in the basement birding club that Ginny attended religiously, every Wednesday night. There, she meets an uncannily brilliant ornithologist—the last person Ginny talked to before she was murdered—and Cassie’s suspicions pull her deeper and deeper into the odd, hidden world of birds and their avid adherents.

With the grudging help of Cassie’s ex-husband, homicide detective Del Gutierrez, who feeds Cassie various leads from the inside, Cassie flings herself into a life-or-death, puzzling chase through the streets of Manhattan—one that leads her into the darkness of her own past, and face to face with a dangerous, obsessive killer.