In the highly anticipated follow-up to Flowers over the Inferno, Superintendent Teresa Battaglia returns for a chilling cold case. After 40 years on the Italian police force, the once-brilliant criminal profiler is flagging under the wear of the job when a decades-old murder investigation lands on her desk. DNA analysis has revealed that a painting from the final days of World War II contains matter from a human heart. Teresa is able to trace the evidence to Val Resia, one of Italy's most isolated, untouched regions.
When Teresa's investigation hits too close to the truth, a fresh human heart is hung at the valley's entrance, a warning not to cross its threshold. As she hunts a ruthless killer, Teresa must face down her own rapidly deteriorating physical and cognitive abilities, as well as someone she hoped never to see again - a man who has just become her supervisor.
