<p>Cedar Valley, CO is a small, idyllic ski town, but memories are long and the tragedies of its past have been woven into the local landscape and into the town’s identity. One of these tragedies occurred three years ago when the mayor’s teenage son, Nicky Bellington, died. He fell over the edge of a waterfall and presumably washed all the way out to sea—his body was never found.</p><p>Now, years later, there’s a traveling circus visiting Cedar Valley, and pregnant police officer Gemma Monroe takes the call when a circus clown is found gruesomely murdered. The clown had been using a false name, dyed his hair, and covered himself in tattoos, but when Gemma runs his fingerprints, the results are shocking. The clown’s prints unmistakably identify him as Nicky Bellington. Surely, Gemma thinks, it can’t be coincidence that the mayor’s son, presumed dead for years, is murdered days after his return to Cedar Valley. But the more Gemma digs, the murkier the circumstances of Nicky’s death become, and she starts to realize that everyone is keeping secrets, from Nicky’s politically ambitious family to his cagey trapeze-artist girlfriend, to the cops who worked Nicky’s disappearance three years ago.</p><p>Beautifully written with a riveting plot and a richly drawn cast of characters,<i>Inherit the Bones</i> is a mesmerizing debut from Emily Littlejohn.</p>