After a self-imposed exile in England, historian Gale Grayson has returned to her southern roots, only to find eccentric relativesand murderous scandalalive and well in Statlers Cross, Georgia. The town folk had been talking about Linnie Glynn Cane since 1925, about the pecan tree where she was found hanging, and how her ghost never came to rest. No sooner do Gale and her four year old Katie Pru, arrive in town than tragedy strikes again. Martin Cane, a straitlaced, religious man and host of the annual Southern Gospel Singing and Barbecue, turns up deadkilled by a rifle blastin the midst of the festivities. Now it is up to Gale to untangle the twisted facts behind Martins death. Was the motive suicide, greed, revengeor a long delayed justice? To find out, Gale will have to dig deep into the towns darkest secrets and her own painful past