Why You'll Love This
A remote California mountain town in the 1950s hides something dark — and the two women sent to uncover it may not survive what they find.
- Great if you want: lesbian historical fiction with genuine mystery and real tension
- The experience: slow-building dread with a satisfying, grounded emotional core
- The writing: Hill keeps prose lean and lets atmosphere do the heavy lifting
- Skip if: you want fast pacing — this one earns its momentum gradually
About This Book
Two detectives. One brutal cold case. And a remote stretch of Texas hill country that seems to hold its secrets as fiercely as the living do. When Jamie Hutchinson and Cat Moore are paired to reinvestigate a decades-old series of murders near Devil's Rock, they're forced to dig through layers of silence, small-town loyalty, and buried history to find answers that someone clearly doesn't want found. The danger isn't just in the past — it's closing in around them in the present.
Gerri Hill writes with a lean, confident hand, keeping the tension coiled tight without sacrificing the emotional current running beneath the investigation. What distinguishes this book is how skillfully Hill balances procedural momentum with genuine character development — these two women feel real from the first chapter, their dynamic evolving naturally under pressure. The Texas landscape isn't just backdrop; it becomes atmosphere, almost a presence in itself. For readers who want their crime fiction grounded in character rather than sensation, this opening entry in the Ross & Sullivan series delivers exactly that kind of quiet, absorbing grip.
