In Brooklyn Bones, a crime of the past comes much too close to home when Erica Donato's teen - age daughter Chris finds a skeleton behind a wall in their crumbling Park Slope home. Erica - young widow, over - age history Ph.D candidate, mother of a teen, product of blue - collar Brooklyn - is drawn into the mystery when she learns this was an unknown teen - age girl, hidden there within living memory. She and her daughter are both touched and disturbed by the mysterious tragedy in their own home. Chris's dangerous curiosity and Erica's work at a local history museum lead her right back to her neighborhood in its edgy, pre - gentrification days, the period when the age of Aquarius was turning dark. A cranky retired reporter shares old files with her. The charming widow of a slumlord has some surprises for her. The crazy old lady who hangs around her street keeps trying to tell her something. And there are people, including some she is close to, who know the whole story and will stop at nothing to make sure it stays buried forever.