Crossroad : a novel / W. H. Cameron.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Melisende Dulac is a fish out of water after relocating from the East Coast to a small community in the Oregon high desert. But just as she's beginning to think of Barlow County as home, her life takes an ominous turn when she comes upon a grisly multiple car wreck and three shattered bodies on an isolated road outside of town. Near the scene, Melisende trips over a fourth body, that of a newborn girl lying a physics-defying distance from the wreckage. There is no one to claim the infant, nor a clear indication she was even part of the accident.

The crash offers plenty of opportunities for an apprentice mortician--but when the victims' bodies are stolen from her family's mortuary, Melisende is branded suspect number one. Then, Portland lawyer Kendrick Pride arrives on the scene on behalf of one of the victim's families--or so he says--and Melisende begins to see that there's much more to this enigmatic figure than meets the eye.

As the shadows gather and the mystery deepens, Melisende must race to find the truth--or be swallowed by the darkness.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Soon after Melisende Dulac, the narrator of this engrossing mystery from Cameron (the Skin Kadash series, as Bill Cameron), moves from Massachusetts to a small Oregon town to become an apprentice mortician, she's first on the scene of a fatal car accident. She immediately spots the bodies of two men and a teenage boy, and later, at a long distance from the wreck, the body of a newborn. Things gets stranger after the bodies, stored in the mortuary, disappear, and scattered ashes are found in the crematorium, along with a skull from an unknown corpse. Since Melisende was the last person to see the bodies, the police suspect she stole them. When the person who represents the teenage boy's family discovers a bullet casing at the scene and concludes the crash was no accident, Melisende begins to investigate. The stakes rise as she delves into an uncertain situation not knowing whom to turn to for help. Cameron keeps the surprises coming. This pulse-pounding tale begs to be read in one sitting. Agent: Janet Reid, New Leaf Literary. (Dec.)

Booklist Review

Melisende Dulac's life on the East Coast has completely fallen apart. Her husband disappeared, and her in-laws somehow blame her. She was institutionalized after a breakdown and then, on being released, drifted into homelessness. Now she is trying to start a new life as a mortuary trainee in a small Oregon town, a job she was offered through friends of her husband's. She's learning the job and trying to find a place for herself in the community when she happens upon a horrific auto accident with multiple fatalities. The only survivor seems to be an infant, who is found in a place far from the crash site, defying the laws of physics. No one comes forward to claim the baby. Later, after the bodies disappear from the mortuary, Melisende becomes the prime suspect, prompting her to realize that if she is to save herself, she must figure out what happened. Cameron is the author of the Skin Kadash mysteries and numerous YA books. This is a moody, atmospheric thriller with a complex plot and an empathetic protagonist. Readers will have a great deal to think about long after they've finished.--Wes Lukowsky Copyright 2020 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

An undertaker-in-training trying to put an accident at the town's crossroads behind her is drawn back into the trauma when the bodies go missing from her new family's mortuary.When Geoffrey Bouton, her new husband, abandons the former Melisende Dulac during their Paris honeymoon, Melisende is more resigned than brokenhearted. Raised by a couple who seemed to be parents by chance rather than choice, Melisende hasn't had much connection to family since her brother died rescuing her from a lake when the two were children. So it's a real surprise when Geoffrey's Aunt Elodie telephones Melisende from out of the blue to offer her a place to live and a job at the family funeral business in Barlow County, outside of Portland, Oregon. Without a qualm about saying goodbye to her East Coast home, Melisende meets her new Aunt Elodie and her husband, a warm man Melisende eventually feels comfortable calling Uncle Rmy. Melisende will always be an outsider in town, but she feels comfortable enough until the day she's driving to work and is stopped by a grisly accident and fire. Though she's used to a high body count at her job, Melisende is so spooked by the scene that she barely realizes there's a baby, still alive, wrapped in a sweatshirt on the fringe of the mayhem. Cameron's first novel under this name (he's written others as Bill Cameron, including Property of the State, 2016, etc.) shows Melisende trying to stay out of trouble when the bodies go missing from the family's mortuary, when it seems as if someone's trying to pin something on her even though there's no crime.A richly drawn background contextualizes the mystery's melancholy, with bursts of humor emerging like sun through clouds. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.