“This mystery-crime-thriller is beautifully and chillingly rendered.” A former forensic photographer herself, the pictures Emerson paints with words are as vivid as they are brutal.” “This paranormal police procedural is unusual and multilayered, but what stands out is the gorgeously expressive and propulsive first-person storytelling, which is split between Rita’s present and her past. Written in sparkling, gruesome prose, Shutter is an explosive debut from one of crime fiction's most powerful new voices. When Rita is sent to photograph the scene of a supposed suicide on a highway overpass, the furious, discombobulated ghost of the victim-who insists she was murdered-latches onto Rita, forcing her on a quest for revenge against her killers, and Rita finds herself in the crosshairs of one of Albuquerque’s most dangerous cartels.

It has isolated her from friends and gotten her in trouble with the law.Īnd now it might be what gets her killed. Her taboo and psychologically harrowing ability was what drove her away from the Navajo reservation, where she was raised by her grandmother. In fact, Rita has been hiding a secret: she sees the ghosts of crime victims who point her toward the clues that other investigators overlook.Īs a lone portal back to the living for traumatized spirits, Rita is terrorized by nagging ghosts who won’t let her sleep and who sabotage her personal life. Her excellent photography skills have cracked many cases-she is almost supernaturally good at capturing details. Rita Todacheene is a forensic photographer working for the Albuquerque police force. This blood-chilling debut set in New Mexico’s Navajo Nation is equal parts gripping crime thriller, supernatural horror, and poignant portrayal of coming of age on the reservation.

Shutter by Ramona Emerson