Cut to the Bone

Hollis Grant has fashioned a new life for herself with a foster child and a job as resident super of an eight-storey apartment building with a split personality. Hollis finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation when a tenant, a woman working for an escort agency, is murdered. The detective in charge is Rhona Simpson, with whom Hollis has crossed swords in the past. Rhona, deeply shaken by a report on racial and sexual violence against Native girls and women, is wrestling with an identity crisis as she comes to terms with her own Native heritage.

Hollis's life is further complicated by the disappearance of Mary, a First Nations tenant who leaves a niece behind and a message asking Hollis to care for her. Hollis gives herself 24 hours to locate Mary, but her search for the woman places her in grave danger. Will Hollis end up as yet another victim?

Joan Boswell has had work published in many magazines and anthologies. As a member of the writing group the Ladies' Killing Circle, she has had stories in each of their seven anthologies. Her Hollis Grant mysteries include Cut to the Quick and Cut to the Chase. She lives in Toronto.