The Talking Bone: A Novel

“Rene Denfeld reminds us that storytelling remains one of the most powerful means we have of confronting our darkest human impulses and sometimes overcoming them.”—Washington Post

From the revered bestselling author, a compulsive, page-turning thriller inspired by her real life work exonerating innocents, a novel that asks how far we’ll go in our pursuit of the truth—an emotionally rich, luminously written book about evil and people trying to do good in the world. Ruby Spencer is known as “the exonerator.” Her job as an investigator is to free innocent men from death row, and she’s good at what she does. What many people don’t know is that she spends her time finding missing women, too. The orphaned daughter of an orphaned mother, Ruby feels a natural affinity for those who have been mistreated by the world at large.

Her newest case takes her to Georgia, and involves a man set to be executed in two weeks. What begins as a routine exoneration unexpectedly sends Ruby down a winding path. Pursuing the truth, she begins to uncover crimes that lead to startling revelations about her own life.

With time running out, will Ruby’s search for answers ultimately lead her to danger?

© 2026 Harper (Audiobook): 9780063396920

Release date

Audiobook: 14 July 2026