C. S. Poe Pořadí knih (chronologicky)

Es ist nun ein Jahr her, seit ein mörderisches Rätsel den Antiquar und Teilzeit-Detektiv Sebastian Snow mit dem Detective der Mordkommission Calvin Winter zusammengebracht hat. Geduld, Vernunft und ihr Leben wurden auf eine harte Probe gestellt, aber die Liebe hat durchgehalten. Obwohl Sebastian mittlerweile der bekannteste, zu neugierige Schnüffler New Yorks ist, hat er genug vom Lösen von Kriminalfällen und möchte nichts lieber als eine romantische Hochzeit mit kleinem Budget planen. Dann erhält Snows Antiquariat per Post einen abgetrennten menschlichen Kopf und die Feiertage werden erneut blutig. Sebastian versucht das neue Rätsel in seinem Leben zu ignorieren, weil er genug von Tod und Gefahr hat – aber der Mörder eskaliert. Bevor Sebastian sich’s versieht, werden seine engsten Freunde und seine Familie in eine Reihe schrecklicher Morde verwickelt, deren antiquierte Hinweise auf die berüchtigten viktorianischen amerikanischen Knochenkriege hindeuten. Die Zeit läuft, um ein längst verloren geglaubtes Artefakt aus dem Besitz des Paläontologen Edward Drinker Cope wiederzufinden und einen Mörder zu fassen. Aber nicht Sebastian könnte das nächste Opfer sein – sondern Calvin.

Detective Everett Larkin of New York City's Cold Case Squad has been on medical leave since catching the serial killer responsible for the Death Mask Murders. But Larkin hasn't forgotten the anonymously delivered letter, nor its suggestion, that another memento--another death--is waiting to be found. Summer brings the grisly discovery of skeletal remains deep in the subway system, but the circumstances resemble one of Larkin's already open cases, so the elite detective resumes active duty. When a postmortem photograph, akin to those taken during the Victorian Era, is located at the scene, Larkin requests aid from the most qualified man he knows: Detective Ira Doyle of the Forensic Artists Unit. With an unsolved case that suffered from tunnel vision, and the deconstruction of death portraits, Larkin and Doyle are descending down a rabbit hole as complex as the tunnels beneath Manhattan. And if this investigation wasn't enough, both detectives are struggling with how to address the growing intimacy between them, because sometimes, love is more grave than murder

Everett Larkin works for the Cold Case Squad: an elite-if understaffed and overworked-group of detectives who solve the forgotten deaths of New York City. Larkin is different from others, but his deduction skills are unmatched and memory for minute details unparalleled.So when a spring thunderstorm uproots a tree in Madison Square Park, unearthing a crate with human remains inside, the best Cold Case detective is assigned the job. And when a death mask, like those prominent during the Victorian era, is found with the body, Larkin requests assistance from the Forensic Artist Unit and receives it in the form of Detective Ira Doyle, his polar opposite in every way.Factual reasoning and facial reconstruction puts Larkin and Doyle on a trail of old missing persons cases and a murderer obsessed with casting his victims' likeness in death. Include some unapologetic flirting from Doyle, and this case just may end up killing Everett Larkin.

Rufus O'Callaghan has eked out a living on the streets of New York City by helping the police put away criminals as a confidential informant. But when Rufus shows up for an arranged meeting and finds his handler dead, his already-uncertain life is thrown into a tailspin. Now someone is trying to kill Rufus too, and he's determined to find out why. After leaving the Army under less than desirable circumstances, Sam Auden has drifted from town to town, hitching rides and catching Greyhounds, until he learns that a former Army buddy, now a police detective in New York City, has died by suicide. Sam knows that's not right, and he immediately sets out to get answers. As Rufus and Sam work together to learn the truth of their friend's death, they find themselves entangled in a web of lies, cover-ups, and accelerating danger. And when they witness a suspect killed in cold blood, they realize they're running out of time

Despite Calvin's attempts to protect Sebastian, the entire charade of grisly murders exists for Sebastian to solve.

Will antique dealer Sebastian and the lead detective on the case, Calvin, make it out of the murder investigation alive?