Blood and Sand

The body of 19-year-old former foster child Talia Suarez is found on the shore of San Felix Island, a few miles off the coast of California, and Lisbon’s team is called in to investigate. Found by local butterfly conservationist William Gardner, Talia was strangled and raped and Jane is sure she was killed on the island, not brought in by the tide.

The islanders are a tight-knit group, many of which have run away from the mainland for one reason or another, including rancher Jed Stack and one of his cowhands Whit Naylor, who’s recently been over to the mainland to get his broken arm seen to.

The team discover that Talia had come to the island looking for Eddie Fish, the man who killed her father, though nobody seems to know who he is. Determined to find the elusive Fish, Jane concocts a ruse, spreading a rumour that a local fisherman is to build a wharf to attract cruise ships to the island. The locals call an emergency meeting, which Jane interrupts, asking everyone to leave their coffee mugs at the back of the room, then announcing they’ll be taken for fingerprint testing to find a match with Fish. At this, Gardner leaves but is quickly arrested by Cho.

Gardner is Eddie Fish but, though he killed Talia’s father, Jane knows he didn’t kill the girl. It was Whit Taylor, a self-hating psychopath who’d left the mainland to avoid the temptation to kill women. He’d met Talia on the ferry back from the hospital and his inner monster had taken over…

Meanwhile, Rigsby reveals that he’s seeing state defender Sarah, and Lisbon talks to Van Pelt about handling her anger issues. The revelation that her fiancé was a murderer is taking its toll...