January 1, 1964, Boston, Massachusetts.
A dead girl is lying on the pavement, illuminated by spotlights, guarded by police officers, and poked at by a medical examiner. Her hair is yellow, pale yellow, quite long, and splayed about like strands of leftover spaghetti. Who or what caused her to slip out of a house party shortly before midnight on New Year’s Eve, and plunge to her death?
Follow the evidence with private investigator Cuttlefish, as he constructs and dissects various scenarios until he reaches the only possible conclusion.
A picture-perfect town.
A bludgeoned body.
Unlikely suspects.
During the summer of 1963, six people, who yearn to change their lives, form a retreat. After one is murdered, their lives do change but not in the manner they expected.
In 1962, a serial killer is terrorizing residents of Massachusetts. As Christmas approaches, an ordinary Boston resident is murdered at home. Is it the work of the serial killer or somebody else? Private investigator Cuttlefish discovers this victim is far from ordinary. Cuttlefish relies upon his expertise in case mapping, interview techniques, and scenario analysis to slice through a clutter of factors including hoarding, bigamy, a confrontation at a quilting retreat, and an obsession with mortality to identify a motive and catch a murderer.
The year is 1960. Life is comfortable for Maeve Noland, pampered wife of the president of the Boston longshoremen’s union. Her daughter and son have begun to forge independent lives and she anticipates spending more time alone with her husband—still the most attractive man she’s ever known. Her husband dies suddenly. When a disturbing claimant to his estate appears, Maeve risks personal and financial ruin to salvage her children’s inheritance and her family’s reputation.