After a Georgia sheriff's death, old secrets start to emerge in this "highly satisfying story, strong in color and atmosphere, intelligent and exacting" (The New York Times). Jackson Kinley has returned to Sequoyah, his small Southern hometown, to mourn the passing of his old friend Ray Tindall. But Sheriff Tindall's death has raised new questions about a very old case. Forty years ago, a man was sentenced to die for murder, even though the body of the victim was never found—only her bloodstained dress. The late sheriff had begun to take another look at the case, before quickly closed it again. Kinley, a true-crime writer, wants to know why. His investigation will lead him into a maze of corruption—and into the darkest corners of the human heart—in this powerful, evocative work of fiction by an Edgar Award winner and "masterful crime novelist" (Toronto Star). "[A] splendid novel." —Publishers Weekly "[A] gripping Southern drama." —Kirkus Reviews