Synopsis

“A witty sleuth as keen and profound as the art form she teaches.” – Kirkus Reviews
Distraught over her partner’s betrayal, poet Maria Pell (no stranger to paranormal phenomena) flees to a writers’ retreat in a small North Carolina coastal town—a place where racial tensions seethe and river mists and blind reverence for old traditions hide secrets of the living and the dead. Maria plunges straight into these mysteries as she searches for the woman who inspired verses written by a deceased local poet. At the same time her writer friend and fellow retreat instructor, Bo Bennett’s research into a local family uncovers that someone is the killing descendants of a seventeenth century slave-owner. Could the murders be retribution for past sins or are they cover for more recent, sinister motives? The poems and Bo’s discoveries combine to solve old mysteries and forever change the way people regard themselves in this barrier island community.