M Glenn Graves

Clancy is obliged to return to her hometown in rural Virginia to investigate the mysterious deaths at a local nursing home facility. The return to the place of her birth and early life forces her to resume her adversarial relationship with her mother.

In this coming-of-age tale, 11 year-old Clancy uncovers her innate inclinations for investigative work while learning some painful yet valuable lessons about her unusual family. Ignoring the overt objections of her mother, Clancy helps her Pitt County Sheriff father solve a double murder of two young boys, and is bent on proving the innocence of her aging friend, Mr. Joe, who is accused of the crime chiefly because he is black. With her strident tenacity and relentless determination, Clancy uncovers clues to discover what is going on in her small Virginia town, which seems to have more than its share of potential suspects.

Clancy encounters an old friend who has more on his mind than simply a nostalgic reunion. His cryptic clue to a crime that has plagued her for too many years - the murder of her father - drives her headlong into a double murder investigation that extends from Tidewater Virginia to Detroit.