The Unknown Beloved: A Novel
From the bestselling author of Where the Lost Wander and What the Wind Knows comes the evocative story of two people whose paths collide against the backdrop of mystery, murder, and the Great Depression.
Chicago, 1923: Ten-year-old Dani Flanagan returns home to find police swarming the house, her parents dead. Michael Malone, the young patrolman assigned to the case, discovers there's more to the situation--and to Dani Flanagan herself--than the authorities care to explore. Malone is told to shut his mouth, and Dani is sent away to live with her spinster aunts in Cleveland.
Fifteen years later, Michael Malone is summoned to Cleveland to investigate a series of murders that have everyone stumped, including his friend and famed Prohibition agent Eliot Ness, now Cleveland's director of safety. There, in a city caught in the grip of a serial killer, Dani and Malone cross paths once again.
Malone is drawn to Dani and her affinity for the dead and compassion for the destitute. It doesn't take long for him to realize that she could help him solve his case. As terror descends on the city and Malone and Dani confront the dark secrets that draw them together, it's a race to find the killer or risk becoming his next victims.
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Community Reviews
No matter what genre Amy writes she does it with such skill and grace and this romantic murder mystery is a perfect example. There's also a little magical realism that Amy does so well that it feels genuine and organic rather than unbelievable and over-the-top.
The Unknown Beloved is based on real people and events starting in 1923 Chicago and then picking up 15 years later in Cleveland. It's now 1938 and there is a serial killer on the loose who is leaving body parts all over the city.
Michael and Dani meet under gruesome circumstances in Chicago and now once again they are being brought together through the hands of a killer. He's a retired cop; a man scorned by his former wife and has closed himself off to love, and she's a bright eyed clothier who's afraid of losing more than she already has.
Through Michael's detective genius and Dani's special gift that allows her glimpses into the lives of others through the touch of cloth will they be able to catch this Mad Butcher and put an end to the terror he's caused?
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