cover image Freezing

Freezing

Clea Koff. Severn, $28.95 (240p) ISBN 978-0-7278-8096-3

Koff’s intriguing mystery debut introduces two strong women, forensic anthropologists Jayne Hall and Steelie Lander, who have formed Agency Thirty-two One in Los Angeles to do forensic profiles of missing persons (or “mispers”), “matching them with unidentified bodies or living Does.” FBI special agent Scott Houston is quick to call on their expertise when a freeway accident spills body parts from a van. Houston and partner Eric Ramos think the body parts may be linked to an open serial killer case they pursued in Atlanta. Koff, a forensic anthropologist who detailed her harrowing experiences in Rwanda and Bosnia in her memoir The Bone Woman, paints a vivid picture of the effect of those losses on the victims’ loved ones. The costs are heavy for those who try to help, but so are the rewards. Koff relies too much on coincidence, but her passion for the problem of “mispers” more than compensates. Readers will look forward to the sequel. (Nov.)