Today, at 3 pm EST, the Isn’t it Romantic Bookclub will be interviewing Katherine Schweit, a retired FBI agent, about her newest non-fiction book Women Who Talk to the Dead.
200 victims. Two women. One mission. Women Who Talk to the Dead, our January featured read, is a true story that will stay with you long after the final page. I hope you’ll join us on our YouTube channel while we discuss this fascinating book with an even more interesting author who has spent her life fighting for those victims without a voice.
Women Who Talk to the Dead
Two women lead the largest FBI exhumation in history to give voice to 200 forgotten murder victims.
True crime fans of Mindhunter, I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, and We Keep the Dead Close, will love how Schweit blends her expertise in law enforcement with her gift for storytelling, to bring readers this gripping true-crime story of social justice.
In the shadows of Detroit’s abandoned buildings and beneath the soil of county cemeteries lay hundreds of murder victims-buried anonymously, their killers uncharged, their families not knowing why they disappeared. For decades, only decaying police files hinted at what happened to these forgotten cold cases murders.
Until two women decided to listen to the dead.
In the spirit of award-winning writers Amber Hunt and Jana Monroe, Women Who Talk to the Dead chronicles the remarkable journey of Detroit Police Detective Shannon Jones and FBI Special Agent Leslie Larsen who assemble a team led by female forensic anthropologists, scientists, and investigators who methodically unearthed Detroit’s painful past. Surrounded by skepticism and bureaucratic roadblocks, follow them through rain-soaked cemetery digs, crumbling case files, and bone-filled body bags to identify the nameless dead and bring closure to families who had spent decades wondering what happened to their loved ones.
Katherine Schweit takes readers inside this unprecedented cold case investigation, revealing:
- The scientific breakthroughs that allow forensic experts to “hear” what bones can tell us decades after death
- The emotional toll of searching for answers when everyone else has moved on
- The bitter reality of which murders are solved and which victims’ society deems disposable
- How a small team of dedicated women changed a system that has too often allowed killers to escape justice simply because their victims were poor, marginalized, or forgotten
Part forensic procedural, part social justice narrative, this book exposes the tragic consequences when the criminal justice system fails those most vulnerable. It also celebrates the resilience and determination of the law enforcement officers who refuse to let these forgotten victims remain nameless. Some of Detroit’s dead have finally reclaimed their identities-but hundreds more still whisper from unmarked graves, waiting for someone to listen.
