Stone Maidens

Content Warning: This section of the novel contains depictions of violence and child abuse.

Christine Prusik, the protagonist of Stone Maidens, is a 35-year-old forensic anthropologist working for the FBI. Richards described her as being “of medium height and well-proportioned from years of swimming the backstroke” (19) Her primary love interest, Sheriff Joe McFaron, describes her as “a striking woman with shining chestnut hair” (155). Prusik is characterized as smart but tough, and nearly as dangerous as the criminals she investigates. Early descriptions of Prusik focus on her “dynamic intelligence,” which simultaneously zeroes in “on the most diminutive detail and nuance of trace evidence and pan[s] out to the wide screen” (20). Prusik’s career at the FBI is built on “her aptitude for science and her combination of uncannily accurate hunches and careful deciphering of wounds” (30). Even Prusik’s rivals are forced to admire her unique “combination of imaginative intuition and determination” (30). These descriptions present Prusik as a complex thinker capable of multiple kinds of thought, from detail-oriented questioning to big-picture arguments. The repeated influence on Prusik’s “hunches” and “intuition” suggests that, in addition to the hard work of her Ph.D. and decade at the FBI, she has an innate ability to solve difficult crimes.