This is Reaper speaking. So begins an anonymous letter published in a Utah newspaper after a young couple is viciously murdered. Tooele County sheriff Elizabeth Gray leads the investigation into the double homicide, which is eerily reminiscent of a string of brutal killings years ago. When the letter leads detectives to yet another body, Gray calls on an old friend for help.

Keera Duggan was building a solid reputation as a Seattle prosecutor, until her romantic relationship with a senior colleague ended badly. For the competitive former chess prodigy, returning to her family’s failing criminal defense law firm to work for her father is the best shot she has. With the right moves, she hopes to restore the family’s reputation, her relationship with her father, and her career.

How do you know whether a real-world situation calls for a storybook hero? Is there such a thing as a knight in shining armor, or does every good deed come with unintended consequences? With chilling insight, five bestselling crime writers explore what it means to rise to the occasion—and the space between intentions and results.

With the murders of the entire Hennley family, Sheriff Suzan Clay is left with a crime scene unlike any she has ever dealt with. The savagery of the killer is something the small community of Kodiak Basin, Alaska, has never seen before. With nowhere else to turn, the sheriff is forced to enlist the help of the FBI. Special Agent Mickey Parsons of the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit receives the sheriff's request and flies to Alaska to help in the investigation.

The Cheyenne Police Department doesn't handle many murders. So when a woman is found mutilated and crucified, detective Kyle Dixon catches a case where all the evidence has long since been destroyed. Any detective would find it a difficult investigation, but to make matters worse, Dixon is paired with Ethan Baudin: a new detective in the unit who doesn't believe the law should apply to those that chase monsters. They find that the murder is connected to a rash of fraternity rapes and the case becomes highly publicized and politically charged. 

With money and hope in short supply, newly minted attorney Brigham Theodore decides it’s time to lower his standards. He joins a seedy fly-by-night firm in Salt Lake City out of desperation. After he loses his first case - a speeding ticket - he’s convinced his career is over. But to his shock, his boss hands him a slightly more complex case: capital murder.

Attorney Dani Rollins is bullish in the courtroom - pushing judges and prosecutors to their limits in defense of the innocent. So when she meets Teddy Thorne, a mentally challenged teen accused of selling drugs, Dani knows she’s got this in the bag. She can easily settle the case with a couple of court appearances. But when prosecutors move for an adult felony conviction, Dani suspects Teddy’s being used as a pawn in a sinister game. As the case moves forward, Dani is certain the judge and district attorney’s office have motivations beyond the crime.

Ruthless defense attorney Tatum Graham has been living large in Miami, but when his recently acquitted client claims another victim, Tatum has a crisis of conscience. Disillusioned, he heads to his small Utah hometown for a simpler life...but that’s not what he finds. Soon after he arrives, Tatum’s childhood crush offers him a job at the county attorney’s office and assigns him a murder case. 

A killer stalks the city of San Diego, brutally slaying women on the fringes of society. Homicide detective Jon Stanton's former partner was the original detective assigned to the case - before he was discovered to be one of San Diego's most ruthless serial killers. Unable to see him for what he was, Stanton blames himself for the murders committed, swearing to never wear the badge again. But with a depraved killer eluding the best SDPD has to offer, Stanton must once again fight to uncover a killer that leaves no evidence behind.

When there is a violent murder at a historic Home Counties golf club, Superintendent John Lambert himself discovers the crime. For the first time in a long career, he finds himself conducting a murder inquiry among people he knows well. The victim is the chairman of the golf club and a prominent local businessman, and it is soon clear that the members of the Club Committee are the chief suspects. They are all prominent members of the local community, and Lambert is saddled with a Chief Constable who is uncomfortably aware of the fact.

Small-town lawyer Bocephus Haynes comes home late one night to find District Attorney General Helen Lewis waiting for him. Her ex-husband has just been killed. She’s about to be arrested for his murder. And she wants Bo to represent her. There’s a lot working against them. Just before his death, Helen’s ex-husband threatened to reveal a dark secret from her past. Bo has been in a tailspin since his wife’s death. 

Criminal Defense Attorney Mitch Turner is awoken in the middle of the night by a message from his nerdy law school employee Timothy Cooper begging Mitch for help. Uncertain about the problem from Timothy's cryptic texts, Mitch Turner slips into his suit and heads over to visit Timothy, unable to imagine any reason why Timothy would be calling for help at such a late hour. Mitch arrives to find the police at Timothy's apartment and learns that Timothy's roommate was murdered.  

NYPD detective Jack McNeal is used to asking the tough questions. But a late-night visit from the Secret Service lands Jack on the other side of the table—as a suspect in the disappearance of his estranged wife, Caroline, a prominent reporter on the White House beat. When her body is found floating in the Potomac, Jack is overcome by disbelief and despair.

After Jake Slater’s wife dies in a tragic hit-and-run, all he has left is his daughter, Piper—nearly lost, too, in a brutal custody battle with his wealthy in-laws. A year later, Jake reluctantly agrees to a reunion with the estranged family for Piper’s thirteenth birthday. Then a single gunshot rings out, and a new nightmare begins. Piper is kidnapped, and her cousin Caitlin is murdered. Caitlin’s cryptic dying words: Piper knows the truth.

Law professor Thomas Jackson McMurtrie literally wrote the book on evidence in the state of Alabama. But when a power-hungry colleague uses a recent run-in between McMurtrie and headstrong student Rick Drake to end his career, he is left unsure what to do next.