In a small town Shelby shrouded in secrets a woman seeks to find the truth behind a terrible injustice in this classic mystery from „the mother of the detective novel". Deborah attempts to prove that her husband was wrongly convicted of murder and was subsequently executed for a crime which she is sure he did not commit. She wants his name cleared so her daughter can marry the man she loves. Determined to prove her husband's innocence, Deborah believes the judge who convicted him is the one person in the world who can help. But a secret so long buried cannot be uncovered without serious repercussions and the mother may uncover truths that she would prefer not to know.