At Pilgrim Hospital, reporters and doctors are gathered for a highly unusual event. A dead woman is placed under an X-ray, with Maura Isles looking on with interest. However, the twist is that the subject has been dead for many years – it is not someone recently dead, but a centuries-old mummy. To the surprise of everyone present, the x-ray reveals that a bullet is lodged in the body, and Maura contacts her colleague, Detective Jane Rizzoli. What began as a historical investigation has, it seems, become a case of homicide. Soon, unpleasant revelations are found hidden behind a wall in a museum owned by a venerable family. Before long the two women realise that they are dealing with a killer of ruthless intelligence who is toying with them.
