Saving Grace

"The body of a Native American veteran, just home from the war in Iraq, is found buried face down in a shallow grave in the woods. Such a burial is intended to condemn the soul of the victim, according to Native American belief. Grace seeks advice on the case from her Native American grandfather, Geepaw, and is shocked to learn he is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and in need of constant supervision."

"An attempt to apprehend a dangerous killer yields terrible results for the squad, including the death of a well-respected officer. The squad immediately sets out to bring the criminal to justice when they learn that the house they were charging had tunnels leading to the house of a major crack dealer. The case causes Grace to face her own mortality. On death row, Leon gets to spend some time with his son, whose mother is about to get remarried. Leon also struggles with deciding whether to allow his son to be adopted by the new man in the mother’s life."

"The squad investigates the murder of a young woman who was tortured by her killer. Elements of the crime – cuts on the woman’s body, a word scrawled in blood on the door, the victim’s activities just before being abducted – all remind Grace of a crime that happened 11 years ago, a crime that hits eerily close to home for her. Meanwhile, Rhetta hypothesizes that the items Earl leaves behind after his angelic visits to Grace might have some sort of hidden meaning. She begins to investigate what that meaning might be, even going to death-row inmate Leon Cooley to see if Earl has left any items for him. Rhetta is then shocked by what she discovers as she begins putting things together."