Bitter Past

Professor Ellie Matthews swore she would never set foot in another crime scene—but if she doesn’t find this predator, she and her students will never be safe.

Ellie Matthews’ life changed the day she discovered that the brutally dismembered Jane Doe she’d been examining for a month was her estranged mother. In one instant her career as a celebrated criminalist was over and her new life as a quiet academic began. But her tentative peace is shattered when the body of a female student is discovered on college property and a close colleague is named the key suspect. Ellie watches in disbelief as evidence begins to pile up against her good-natured friend and whispers of salacious affairs and toxic secrets spread.

When the murder investigation takes a terrifying turn, Ellie is compelled to help, reassuring herself that this is just a job—it isn’t personal. But as she races to make sense of the evidence, a predator with everything to lose circles closer, and Ellie is in the crosshairs.