The Blessed Bones

"She could hear nothing but the sound of her own heartbeat. It was dark and the rough ground scraped against her as she tried to move. Being alone was strange to her--she was so used to her big family, to the noise, the warmth, but the last thing she wanted was for the woman to return ... When Detective Clara Jefferies returned home to Alber, Utah, she knew it would take a long time to convince the closed community to trust her. So she is surprised to be called to private land up in the mountains, until she hears that the bones of a young girl have been found. And hidden in the dark depths of the grave are the remains of a baby too ... Digging into the town's missing persons files, Clara is shocked to discover that pregnant girls have been going missing for years. And when she spots Ash Crawford, the first cop on the scene, praying over the bodies, she begins to suspect that he knows more about the victim than he's letting on. With Crawford staying silent, and the identity of the girl still unknown, Clara's only choice is to visit every family living on the mountaintop, desperate to find what they might be hiding. But doing so means facing the man she was once bound to, and the tall iron gates of the ranch she ran away from all those years ago. Then another pregnant girl is reported missing, and Clara ramps up her search, racing to find her alive. But can she uncover the town's dark secrets in time to save both the girl and her unborn child?"--Back cover.