Parents' Guide to The Corpse Queen

As the THE CORPSE QUEEN begins, it's 1855 in Philadelphia and 17-year-old Molly Green is trying to drag the body of her best friend, Kitty, out of a muddy grave. Kitty has been brutally murdered and the orphanage where they both live cared nothing about giving her a proper burial or finding her killer. Molly decides avenging Kitty's death will have to be up to her. When the orphanage tells Molly she'll be leaving to live with an aunt she never knew existed, she's immediately suspicious. Suspicion turns to disbelief when she arrives at a mansion and finds her Aunt Ava is very, very rich. Then she discovers the source of her aunt's wealth -- she's a grave robber known as the Corpse Queen. Or more specifically, she illegally obtains bodies and sells them to renowned surgeon Dr. LaValle, who's teaching anatomy to medical students. Almost immediately, Molly finds herself sent on "errands" to collect bodies from poor houses, backrooms at bars, asylums for the criminally insane, just about anywhere someone is willing to sell a body they think no one will miss. When she's not collecting bodies, Molly's being groomed by her Aunt Ava to be part of Philadelphia society, something Molly has absolutely no interest in. What she is interested in is finding Kitty's murderer, and she's certain he's a serial killer known as the Knifeman. And almost as certain that the Knifeman is one of Dr. LaValle's students. Molly begins attending his anatomy classes (where she's constantly bullied by the male students) to try and discover the Knifeman's identity. She finds not only a killer but a surprising determination to become a surgeon.