The Butcher Legacy: The nail-biting new Dr. Wren Muller serial killer thriller for 2026
About this ebook
'Alaina does it again . . . amazing!' - reader review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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Dr. Wren Muller is back! But has the Bayou Butcher returned, too?
Two months after the life-changing events on the tail of a serial killer known as the 'Bayou Butcher', forensic pathologist Dr. Wren Muller is back in the place she knows best: the New Orleans morgue.
She buries herself in routine, reuniting with her closest ally, Detective John Leroux, and tries to convince herself that normality can be rebuilt. But in the weeks leading up to Halloween, shadows begin to shift again as young girls vanish in both cities where Jeremy Rose, the unmasked Bayou Butcher, once ran rampant.
When bodies are discovered with all the hallmarks of Bayou Butcher killings, Wren and Leroux must mobilise.
Hundreds of miles away in Massachusetts, Philip Trudeau stands behind a pulpit. He is the revered pastor of a close-knit congregation, but beneath his calm composure lies something sinister - he has history with Jeremy Rose, and a hunger that did not fade when the Bayou Butcher was jailed . . .
Is Jeremy pulling the most gruesome of strings from behind bars? And will Wren ever be free of the Bayou Butcher's legacy . . . or will it be her downfall?
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Readers and reviewers love the Dr. Wren Muller series!
'Dr. Wren Muller is a fiery female protagonist that Scarpetta would call friend' - Patricia Cornwell
'Utterly compelling, this is crime at its most hypnotic' - Daily Mail
'I could not put this book down, finishing it the same day and having to sleep with the light on bc it is SO GOOD!!' - reader review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'This captured me from the get go! Was morbidly fascinated . . . Can't wait to read the next one!' - reader review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'Alaina, you have terrified me daily on your Morbid podcast and now in the pages of this glued-to-the-hand nightmare of a book. To coin a phrase used by you and the wonderful Ash, I am obsessed with this book and can NOT wait to see what happens next' - reader review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'What a book! . . . I couldn't put this book down, the twists and turns are amazing. Loved it so much!' - reader review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'I absolutely loved this book. I couldn't wait to keep reading it, and when it hit part 2 . . . I literally sat there with my mouth open!' - reader review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'CAPTIVATING. The reader might want to shut their eyes, but the joust between the killer and the pathologist makes that impossible' ― DAILY MAIL
'Amazing twists. Unputdownable' ― Samantha Downing, author of My Lovely Wife
'Alaina Urquhart has set a new benchmark for the serial killer novel' ― Margot Douaihy, USA Today bestselling author of Scorched Grace and Blessed Water
'Urquhart has crafted a thriller that is necessarily graphic but not exploitative. The crisp detail, the narrative brevity and the blade-sharp connections between the pathologist and the killer all bode well for future instalments' - Sarah Weinman, New York Times
'A read-in-one-sitting kind of book' - Sarah Gelman, CBS Mornings
'Alaina Urquhart treats fans of pulse-pounding novels to a thrill ride pitting a notorious serial killer in a battle of wits against the medical examiner determined to bring him down' - Books-A-Million
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About the author
Alaina Urquhart is the author of the New York Times bestselling novel, The Butcher and the Wren.
As the science-loving host of the Morbid: A True Crime Podcast and an autopsy technician by trade, she offers a unique perspective from deep inside the morgue.
Alaina hails from Boston, Massachusetts where she lives with her wonderful husband John, their three amazing daughters, her two Hell Hounds named Sidney Prescott and Blanche Devereaux and a ghost Puggle named Bubba. She is about 75% coffee and truly believes she and Agent Clarice Starling could be friends.
Before writing her first psychological horror novel, she received degrees in Criminal Justice, Psychology and Biology. When she isn't hosting Morbid, she hosts a podcast called The ReWatcher and a horror movie pod called Scream!. Her days are usually spent either recording, writing or eviscerating. The way she sees it, when she hangs up her microphone for the day, it's time to let the dead speak.
