The grotesque murder of a Haitian-American doctor entangles two old friends in a world of corruption, conspiracy, and rising personal passion.

Corinne Martin, a British nurse-midwife, and Charlie Carter, a globetrotting American journalist, met as first responders to the 2010 earthquake and are reunited in Haiti a decade later - after Corinne's colleague, Dr. Sanctis Beauvoir, is found dead in the Haitian hills with his eyes cut out. She immediately suspects a colleague. Charlie harbors doubts.

Set amid Haiti's worst security crisis in a century - foreshadowing the assassination of President Jovenel Moise - the novel blends history, culture, religion and superstition in a suspenseful story about a loyal friend chasing the truth about a grisly homicide and the tender promise of second-chance love.

Matza takes readers from the pastoral hills of the Artibonite Valley to the teeming markets of Port-au-Prince. From an orphanage for malnourished children, to the high-end hotels where Haiti's elite and ex-pats mingle. From a medical clinic in a former gang house, to a rural hospital where women give birth on gurneys unless they bring their own sheets.

Join Corinne, Charlie, Haitian investigator Kenley Claud and FBI special agent Jean "JB" Belizaire as they hunt for whoever killed Dr. Sanctis Beauvoir.

(With an Epilogue on the triumphant, iconic history of soup joumou and its delicious recipe.)

The novel, which readers have called "jolting" and "true to life," is the work of journalist Michael Matza, who covered national, international and metropolitan news for The Philadelphia Inquirer for three decades, serving as bureau chief in the Middle East and in New England. A two-time Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, he has reported from 34 countries across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, including multiple assignments in Haiti.