A young man is found murdered, his bones crushed nearly to dust before his body was dumped into New York's East River In New York there are hundreds of murders a year, but this one is different. Somebody is sending a message. And shockingly, the victim has ties to my brother, Stephen Gaines, recently murdered by an elusive drug lord known only as the Fury.
On the shore of Lake Superior, a Russian named Rodion Oleshev is found dead - three holes in his head and heart. When it turns out the victim had very high government connections, that's when it really hits the fan.
Well-Being and Death addresses philosophical questions about death and the good life: what makes a life go well? Is death bad for the one who dies? How is this possible if we go out of existence when we die? Is it worse to die as an infant or as a young adult? Is it bad for animals and fetuses to die? Can the dead be harmed? Is there any way to make death less bad for us? Ben Bradley defends the following views: pleasure, rather than achievement or the satisfaction of desire, is what makes life go well; death is generally bad for its victim, in virtue of depriving the victim of more of a good life.
The Latin is scrawled in blood at the scene of a young woman's brutal murder: I HAVE SINNED. It's a chilling Christmas greeting for Boston medical examiner Maura Isles and Detective Jane Rizzoli, who swiftly link the victim to controversial celebrity psychiatrist Joyce O'Donnell - Jane's professional nemesis and member of a sinister cabal called the Mephisto Club.
M.J. Novak, a streetwise medical examiner, thinks she's seen it all. Then a red-haired women named Peggy Sue mysteriously dies, the first victim of what may be an epidemic. Her only clue is a telephone number scrawled inside the matchbook in the girls' lifeless hand. Could M.J. be at risk too?
