Beauty in the Blood

A curse rolls out over centuries, murky and unknowable as swamp waters, shaping and destroying lives.

"Carter delivers. . . . [A] fusion of detective fiction and horror that is impossible to look away from." --The New York Times Book Review

Sarah Toomey is a successful young black lawyer, lovely but straitlaced- and afraid that she is losing her mind. Since the death of her mother, a force she can neither understand nor control is manipulating her memory and driving her to unexplained acts of violence and destruction. At the same time, Sarah is swept up in a highly charged relationship with a work colleague that portends a danger of its own. As she moves through her privileged life in New York, Sarah comes to learn how her past--her haunted history--is intertwined with America's.

Yvonne Howard was born into the working class. Now, after years as a prison guard, she has reinvented herself. Her passion for cooking has landed her a position at a trendy soul food restaurant, and she is looking forward to a glamorous career. Then an ex-inmate named Bitty appears, demanding Yvonne's help investigating her brother's shocking death. Before long, Bitty too is dead, and Yvonne is pulled back into a world of ugly violence. Smart but unschooled, Yvonne finds herself in the unlikely role of detective: it is she who must unravel the dark and blood-soaked history that not only doomed Bitty and her brother, but also determined beautiful Sarah Toomey's fate.

Author: Charlotte Carter
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 02/11/2025
Pages: 288
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.60lbs
Size: 7.90h x 5.10w x 0.90d
ISBN13: 9780593467282
ISBN10: 0593467280
BISAC Categories:
- Fiction | Gothic
- Fiction | Horror | General
- Fiction | Thrillers | Supernatural

About the Author
CHARLOTTE CARTER is the acclaimed author of the Nanette Hayes mystery series. Her short fiction has appeared in a number of American and British anthologies. Charlotte Carter has lived in the American Midwest, North Africa, and France. She currently resides in New York City.