Amelia Sachs is hot on the trail of a killer. She's chasing him through a department store in Brooklyn when an escalator malfunctions. The stairs give way, with one man horribly mangled by the gears. Sachs is forced to let her quarry escape as she jumps in to try to help save the victim. She and famed forensic detective Lincoln Rhyme soon learn, however, that the incident may not have been an accident at all, but the first in a series of intentional...

A U.S. citizen in the Bahamas is shot by a sniper par excellence -- a man capable of delivering a "million-dollar bullet" into the heart of his targets, a mile or more away. The investigation reveals that the victim, Robert Moreno, a man known to have strong anti-American sympathies, was assassinated by the U.S. government. New York assistant district attorney Nance Laurel, unwilling to let the government get away with ignoring the rule of law, brings...

They have never seen a murder like it. A talented tattoo artist is using poison instead of ink. His victim is a young woman. And on her skin he's left a message: 'the second'. Drafted in to investigate, NYPD detective Lincoln Rhyme and his associate Amelia Sachs find the scene has been scrubbed of evidence. All except for one trace -- a scrap of paper that connects this case with one they will never forget. And like the Bone Collector before him,...

The foremost criminalist in the NYPD, a quadriplegic since a line-of-duty accident, must use his wits to track a killer who's been hired to eliminate three witnesses before their grand jury testimony.

When Lincoln's estranged cousin Arthur Rhyme is arrested on murder charges, the case is perfect -- too perfect. Forensic evidence from Arthur's home is found all over the scene of the crime, and it looks like the fate of Lincoln's relative is sealed. At the behest of Arthur's wife, Judy, Lincoln grudgingly agrees to investigate the case. Soon Lincoln and Amelia uncover a string of similar murders and rapes with perpetrators claiming innocence and...