Serial killer Gretchen Lowell is on the loose and Detective Archie Sheridan is hospitalized after his ploy to catch her went spectacularly wrong. They've entered a detente of sorts-Archie agrees not to kill himself if she agrees not to kill anyone else. But suddenly there's something else to contend with-a copycat, killing people as an homage to the Beauty Killer herself. At least they hope it's someone new, for the prospect of Gretchen on another killing spree is more than Archie can bear.

Chelsea Cain lived the first few years of her life on an Iowa commune, then grew up in Bellingham, WA, where the infamous Green River killer was "the boogieman" of her youth. The true story of the Green River killer's capture was the inspiration for the story of Gretchen and Archie. She started writing Heartsick to kill time while she was pregnant. The author of a weekly column in The Oregonian, Cain lives in Portland with her husband and daughter.