We follow Detective Maria Miller and her partner, Frankie, as they investigate a brutal crime in the attic of a Greenwich brownstone, where decades earlier a beautiful actress was murdered in the same way. The detectives are puzzled by the disturbing similarities between the crimes occurring in this house and wonder if and how they could possibly be connected? They speculate that they may have a sadistic copycat on their hands or is it something much more sinister? Immediately upon entering the brownstone, Maria feels something dark. It’s a tickle in her senses...something equally unpleasant and unsettling. The way the crime scene has been staged only adds to those feelings. In both the past and present cases, body parts had been removed from the victims and not found. Also, there is strong evidence of satanic rituals at both the past and the present crime scenes. They question who could possibly want to recreate something so evil? The story is told in a dual timeline with Maria and Frankie in the present, and a historical perspective featuring the events leading up to the past murder in the house. We are also offered a modern perspective from an unknown individual, who appears to maybe be the "bad guy". I liked getting the multi-perspectives as well as the history. The past sections were a bit slower paced than the modern perspectives, but helpful when putting it all together. It helped to give the needed insight into the property and all the characters involved. The house itself became a major character itself in the story providing lots of chills and unexpected activities. Fans of haunted house stories and good murder mysteries will more than likely really like this offering. ( )

I really enjoyed this book. It’s a crime story with just enough horror to creep you out (which I imagine isn’t easy to do); I loved getting a little spooked by the story. This was my first read from Helen Phifer and before finishing I was already checking out her other books for more of her work to add to my queue. ( )