A year after the shrine fire, the town of Kurasawa has healed, but the truth has not. Detective Kaoru Kirishima arrives to find a case that was closed too quickly, a survivor who seems too perfect, and a trail of evidence that leads into the dark heart of a calculated accident. As she pieces together the fragments, she realizes the real monster isn't hiding in the shadows. She's been embraced by the town, and she's been waiting for someone to look close enough to see her.

[Book 2 of the Coiling Serpent series. Can be read as a standalone mystery, but readers of Book 1 will find deeper resonance.]