Inspector Ricardo Ramirez of Havana and Detective Charlie Pike of Ottawa investigate a string of women’s murders from Cuba to Canada in this gritty, compelling mystery by award-winning author Peggy Blair.

Cover of Hunry Ghosts book depicting light car stuck in a foggy forest while a person looks on.

Every cop expects more violence when there’s a full moon like the one hanging in the night sky above Havana. Inspector Ricardo Ramirez is busy investigating the senseless destruction of priceless paintings at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes when his worst fears are confirmed—the body of a murdered prostitute is found near the highway with a pair of nylons tied tightly around her neck. But it’s not the death alone that horrifies Ramirez; it’s the fact the nylons are a signature of a killer whose work Ramirez has seen before, in an unsolved murder case that still haunts him.

Detective Charlie Pike of the Rideau Regional Police Force has been reviewing cold cases himself as he tries to identify links between dozens of murdered Indigenous women across Canada. When a woman’s body is discovered on the Manomin Bay First Nation, he’s sent to Northern Ontario to assist in the investigation. But it’s complicated, because Charlie Pike grew up on the Manomin Bay reserve. He knows the people who live there, including their secrets.

While both men struggle to find a vicious murderer, one thing is clear in both investigations—until they do, the killing won’t stop.