When Gilly Ainsley shows up on Jo Beth Sidden's doorstep, the smart and feisty bloodhound trainer and tracker is stunned by the woman's bizarre tale of deception and manslaughter. Gilly's mother wrote a letter before she died, a letter claiming that she would be murdered by the man for whom she kept house -- a superior court judge -- and Gilly wants Jo Beth to bring the murderer to justice.

Gilly's mother saw something she shouldn't have in the woods near the Okefenokee Swamp. Gilly and Jo Beth are in danger, too, and Jo Beth knows that the swamp guards its secrets well. Toppling this fat cat judge will take someone who can see inside the criminal mind, train a pack of dogs to hunt out evil, and pursue an enemy until there is nothing left but the sweat on his palms.

"Delightfully entertaining.... Lanier has created a heroine every bit as memorable as Sue Grafton's Kinsey Milhone and Sara Peretsky's V.I. Warshawski". -- Times Union (Jacksonville, FL)

"Absolutely fascinating". -- Orlando Sentinel