Salt Bones - Hardcover

by Jennifer Givhan (Author)

A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
A Book Riot Best Mystery & Thriller of the Year
A Marie Claire Best Mystery-Thriller of the Year
A Library Journal Stellar Selection
A RUSA 2026 Reading List Selection

Three women in one twisted family race for answers in this striking mystery set in the Mexicali borderlands that "breathes new life into the myth of Persephone and Demeter" (Ana Reyes, author of The House in the Pines).

At the edge of the Salton Sea, in the blistering borderlands, something is out hunting...

Malamar Veracruz has never left the dust-choked town of El Valle. Here, Mal has done her best to build a good life: She's raised two children, worked hard, and tried to forget the painful, unexplained disappearance of her sister, Elena. When another local girl goes missing, Mal plunges into a fresh yet familiar nightmare. As a desperate Mal hunts for answers, her search becomes increasingly tangled with inscrutable visions of a horse-headed woman, a local legend who Mal feels compelled to follow. Mal's perspective is joined by the voices of her two daughters, all three of whom must work to uncover the truth about the missing girls in their community before it's too late.

Combining elements of Latina and Indigenous culture, family drama, mystery, horror, and magical realism in a spellbinding mix, Salt Bones lays bare the realities of environmental catastrophe, family secrets, and the unrelenting bond between mothers and daughters.

"Taut with a mother's fierce love and the corrosive power of secrets...this is storytelling at its most urgent and haunting." --Morgan Talty, author of Night of the Living Rez

"A novel of visceral and celestial storytelling power, where the grieving land holds as many secrets as the characters." --Kali Fajardo-Anstine, author of Sabrina & Corina

"A triumph ... One of the most masterful marriages of horror, mystery, thriller, and literary writing." --The Los Angeles Times

"Will absolutely mesmerize you." --Cosmo

"Beautifully explores the dark complexities of mother-daughter relationships." --Erin E. Adams, author of Jackal

"An irresistible world." --Tananarive Due, author of The Reformatory​

Author Biography

Jennifer Givhan is a Mexican American and Indigenous poet and novelist from the Southwestern desert and the recipient of poetry fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and PEN/Rosenthal Emerging Voices. She holds a Master's degree from California State University Fullerton and a master's in Fine Arts from Warren Wilson College. Givhan is the author of five full-length poetry collections and the novel River Woman, River Demon.