Workers demolishing a nineteenth-century brownstone where Edgar Allan Poe once lived discover a human skeleton entombed -- standing -- behind a brick wall. When sex crimes prosecutor Alexandra Cooper hears about the case, it strikes her as a classic Poe scene...except that forensic evidence shows that this young woman died within the last twenty-five years. Meanwhile, Alex is furious at the news that an old nemesis may be preying on women once again on Manhattan's exclusive Upper East Side. The Silk Stalking Rapist first struck four years ago, leaving a string of victims in his wake, then abruptly disappearing before Alex and the NYPD could identify him. Now, with improved forensic technology and a national DNA data bank to draw from, a fresh attack may give Alex a new lease on many old crimes, just in time to beat the statute of limitations. But when a woman dies as a result of her injuries, Alex's search for justice for the rapist's prior victims becomes a hunt for a killer as well. As Alex peels bach the layers of the murdered woman's past indiscretions, she finds more than one potential enemy and many intriguing connections between the Silk Stocking Rapist, his victims, and the haunting theme of revenge that pervades Poe's stories. The case takes Alex and detective Mercer Wallace and Mike Chapman from a quiet college campus to the stunning 250-acre forest that comprises the New York Botanical Gardens. There, an enigmatic librarian presides over the Raven society, a secretive group devoted to the work of Poe. Could it be that their fascination with a writer famed for depicting bizarre and exquisitely planned murders goes well beyond scholarly interest? In exploring the fabled writer's tormented life for clues, Alex will cross paths with a cunning killer and face some of the greatest challenges of her career. - book jacket
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