To The Bone
(2025)(The first book in the Pauline McCrory-Keegan Thriller series)
A novel by John Misak
She walked away from her life. A missing girl might lead her back to it.
From the world of the acclaimed John Keegan Mystery Series comes a gripping, emotionally layered standalone about addiction, identity, and the dangerous pull of the life you thought you left behind.
Pauline McCrory Keegan didn’t plan to disappear. But the headlines, the scandals, the public scrutiny surrounding her husband—NYPD homicide legend John Keegan—finally pushed her over the edge. Her own secret investigation into the murder of the mayor only widened the cracks.
So she walked away. From her job. Her husband. Her home. Her children.
Now, in a quiet cottage along the Chesapeake Bay, she’s trying to stay still. Stay quiet. Stay gone.
But peace never lasts.
Twelve-year-old Melissa Carver has been missing for weeks when Pauline arrives in town. The search has gone cold. The local police have nothing. But something in the details won’t let Pauline look away. What begins as a distraction becomes a pull she knows too well—and can’t resist.
The deeper she digs, the more she recognizes the old rhythms: secrets spoken in code, trust traded in shadows, every answer edged in risk. And with each step, she feels the danger creeping back in—not just around her, but inside her.
At the same time, the guilt sharpens. Her kids are growing up without her. Her husband, John Keegan, once the NYPD’s most celebrated detective, is drowning in scandal back in New York. And as the fallout from his last case follows her across state lines, Pauline begins to understand something she hadn’t let herself see:
Melissa isn’t just a missing child. She’s a reflection.
Pauline is the one who’s been gone.
And if she can bring Melissa home, maybe—just maybe—she can find her way back to her own children too.
To the Bone is a taut, emotionally resonant mystery about the cost of losing yourself, the hunger to reclaim what matters, and the terrifying freedom of choosing who you become next.
Told in parallel with Ghosts of Days Gone By, this novel reveals the other side of the story—while John Keegan faces shadows in New York, Pauline fights her own battle miles away. Read them together for the full picture.
Genre: Mystery
From the world of the acclaimed John Keegan Mystery Series comes a gripping, emotionally layered standalone about addiction, identity, and the dangerous pull of the life you thought you left behind.
Pauline McCrory Keegan didn’t plan to disappear. But the headlines, the scandals, the public scrutiny surrounding her husband—NYPD homicide legend John Keegan—finally pushed her over the edge. Her own secret investigation into the murder of the mayor only widened the cracks.
So she walked away. From her job. Her husband. Her home. Her children.
Now, in a quiet cottage along the Chesapeake Bay, she’s trying to stay still. Stay quiet. Stay gone.
But peace never lasts.
Twelve-year-old Melissa Carver has been missing for weeks when Pauline arrives in town. The search has gone cold. The local police have nothing. But something in the details won’t let Pauline look away. What begins as a distraction becomes a pull she knows too well—and can’t resist.
The deeper she digs, the more she recognizes the old rhythms: secrets spoken in code, trust traded in shadows, every answer edged in risk. And with each step, she feels the danger creeping back in—not just around her, but inside her.
At the same time, the guilt sharpens. Her kids are growing up without her. Her husband, John Keegan, once the NYPD’s most celebrated detective, is drowning in scandal back in New York. And as the fallout from his last case follows her across state lines, Pauline begins to understand something she hadn’t let herself see:
Melissa isn’t just a missing child. She’s a reflection.
Pauline is the one who’s been gone.
And if she can bring Melissa home, maybe—just maybe—she can find her way back to her own children too.
To the Bone is a taut, emotionally resonant mystery about the cost of losing yourself, the hunger to reclaim what matters, and the terrifying freedom of choosing who you become next.
Told in parallel with Ghosts of Days Gone By, this novel reveals the other side of the story—while John Keegan faces shadows in New York, Pauline fights her own battle miles away. Read them together for the full picture.
Genre: Mystery
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