Washoe County Library System

Hundreds of thousands line the banks of the East and Hudson Rivers awaiting the nation’s largest fireworks display. Soon the sky will explode in cascading showers of silver and gold. Everywhere, faces will turn skyward in wide-eyed wonder. Then the sky will grow dark again—but it will not be empty. The air will be filled with clouds of smoke and specks of debris will rain down everywhere. Some will pick bits of paper from their children’s hair....

"Forensic entomologist Nick Polchack lives in a world of maggots and blow flies and decomposing bodies. No wonder he's still single. But Nick has finally found a woman as strange as he is--dog trainer Alena Savard, a woman who is odd, reclusive and can seemingly talk to animals. It was a match made in heaven. Nick and Alena are scheduled to be married on Saturday--but there's one small problem, Nick has disappeared. Caught up in a murder case involving...