Claire Watkins and her young daughter, Meg, moved to Fort St. Antoine, Wisconsin, from the Twin Cities after the death of her husband. Formerly a big-city cop, Claire was enjoying the relative peace and calm of being a member of a small-town police force. And she had met Rich, a man whose company she enjoyed and to whom she'd been getting closer. Tonight, Meg was staying with her aunt Bridget while Claire and Rich attended a street dance in town. An old-fashioned, fun evening, it was everything she hoped it would be. And then a woman screamed.

Jed Spitzler was known as a quiet, conservative guy; if he had another side to him, no one knew about it. He was a bit eccentric, maybe, but well liked. His kids were no more trouble than any other kids their age, and that earned him some respect since he was raising them alone: His wife had died a few years before in an accident on their farm. No one had any problems with him. So why did someone walk up to Jed in the crowd of partygoers and shove a knife into his heart? This wasn't the kind of thing that was supposed to happen here. But it had, and Claire now attempted what she had learned to do so well: uncover truths that others want hidden at any cost.

Bringing to her fiction the skills she has honed as an award-winning poet, Mary Logue has created a vivid portrait of a woman piecing her life back together and a picture of small-town life that rings true from the first word to last.