Stork Boy — Abigail Padgett

San Diego Child Abuse Investigator Bo Bradley agrees to accompany significant other Dr. Andrew LaMarche on a two-week business trip to France. Bo, who lives with a bipolar disorder, looks forward to relaxing in a tiny Alpine village, painting scenery and dodging Andy's frequent proposals of marriage. She's packed enough meds to last for months, and even though she doesn't speak a word of French, somebody at work gave her an old Berlitz language text to use. What could go wrong?

The dead man found in her back yard with a peculiar iron spike buried in his neck the morning after her arrival is unfortunate, but it has nothing to do with her. Or does it? Bo fights an awareness that it does, which makes no sense. And what about the strange old nun the police bring in to translate as they interview Bo? Sister Jean-Noëlle's English is pathetic, but as she leaves she whispers a line from Hamlet. Why is the old woman pretending to be something she's not?

Bo inadvertently uncovers one incomprehensible clue to the murder after another as she juggles her relationship with Andy, a troubling Interpol agent, Russian icons and a secret burial during which everybody in town except Bo knows to stay off the streets. Until the moment when it becomes clear that she has to identify the killer because a fragile boy's life hangs in the balance.

Out of her element, lacking any legal authority and frantic as time runs out, Bo faces the most complex and hopeless case of her career. And it's not even her case. Except she knows it is.