RESTLESS BONES

More murders in Maine’s Bennet County play out against the continuing battle of wits between Shawnee Connolly and the man imprisoned for killing her sister.

The search for physical therapist Nadia Jimenez ends when she’s fished from her car, which has been sunk in Signet Lake. A freak accident left part of the vehicle filled with air instead of water, and Shaw and her fellow fingerprint analysts are eager to see if they can identify any of the prints found inside that bubble. Shaw’s hopes crest when a thumbprint on the rearview mirror is identified as that of ex-con Robin O’Dell, then are dashed by the news that O’Dell died three years ago. But that’s not the main story. Det. Padraig McKenzie of Major Crimes, whose romantic pursuit of Shaw was interrupted at the last minute, wants her to accompany him on a trip to the Maine State Prison, the current home of Anders Jansen, who was convicted of killing Shaw’s kid sister Thea back in 2007. Jansen says he has more information to share about several other victims and that he won’t share it with anyone but Shaw. Shaw, who’s already had enough contact with Anders (Shaw Connolly Lives To Tell, 2025) for several shaky lifetimes, eventually agrees, and her visit is every bit as nerve-shredding as she expected. But Anders discloses the name of Kendall Winston, whom he murdered two years ago, and promises to take the cops to the place where he buried her if and only if Shaw comes along. On this trip, he’ll be cuffed and chained and heavily guarded. So what could go wrong?

A primer on how much you can, and can’t, learn about a crime by analyzing fingerprints and punching above your weight.