Synopsis: Four people, only tangentially connected, become closely allied in a compact to carry out a fatal "accident." Naturally, all of them have different motives for contemplating their own deaths, though loss of some sort is a large part. Richard rejects a futile struggle with cancer; Thorny can no longer stand living without his beloved wife and his craft as a mason; Astrid realizes that she is becoming increasingly demented; Matt decides that the only way to provide modest security for his struggling family is through his insurance. Their compact is proceeding well, but could be exposed and derailed by one of two characters who have no idea what is being planned.

Autobiography: Patricia Spicer is a California-born poet and retired educator who has celebrated the natural beauty and diversity of the coastal counties throughout her life. Especially precious are the oak woodlands and wildlife of Glen Ellen in Sonoma County, where she spent most of her adult life and where her daughter grew up. Widowed, she now resides in Eugene, Oregon. The Compact is her first completed novel