When forensic pathology fellow Rowan Mercer arrives at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, she expects grueling training, autopsies and a year-long research project. Assigned to study forensic and investigative genealogy, Rowan soon finds herself pulled into a decades-old disappearance that intertwines family secrets, cold-case DNA, and the power of online ancestry databases. As her investigation advances, viral publicity, dangerous allies, and buried truths force Rowan to confront how far people will go to hide the past. The Hawke of Oakmont blends procedural detail, ethical dilemmas in modern forensics, and a tense race to uncover the truth—delivering a character-driven mystery that explores identity, justice, and the unintended consequences of new investigative tools.
When forensic pathology fellow Rowan Mercer arrives at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, she expects grueling training, autopsies and a year-long research project. Assigned to study forensic and investigative genealogy, Rowan soon finds herself pulled into a decades-old disappearance that...