Desert Remains by Steven Cooper

Finding a dead body in the desert is never pleasant.  This one is in a cave and has been stabbed so many times it's hard to look at.  So is the drawing that is left behind...

Seventh Street Books and Edelweiss gave me the opportunity to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published October 10th.

Mills is the lead cop on the case and he's not finding many clues.  He decides to ask his psychic friend to help.  This was an interesting touch in the mystery.  Gus sees the upcoming murders but he can't see the exact location or the killer.  He even takes Mills out to a kill and finds an old decomposing body, not the current kill.  As time goes on, they begin to realize there's a serial killer in their area.  But the clues are still missing.

The team assigned to Mills includes an ex-FBI agent.  He wants to lay the blame on the boyfriend of one of the victims but why would he have killed the others?  Also he was just a temporary visitor to area.

Gus finally gives Mills something to focus on:  A fire in the past in a certain area.  Mills finds there was a woman who killed her husband by fire.  Her son was missing but he was not a fire victim.  Maybe the mother is the killer, she just got out of jail.  Or her son.  But who can find her son?

There's lots of suspense and tension in the final chapters of the book.  As the truth is weeded out, they find the killer is closer than they would have liked.  This is a twisted story that ends with a final ironic twist at the end.  This was a good read.