A psychological mystery centered on the murder of two showgirls in 1930s St. Paul, Minnesota. A man is arrested and everything points to his guilt, but Lieutenant Horner is convinced the man is innocent. By the author of In the Deep Midwinter.

People in Merit, Wisconsin, always said Jimmy was . . . you know. But people said all sorts of stupid stuff. Nobody really knew anything. Nobody really knew Jimmy. I guess you could say I knew Jimmy as well as anyone (which was not very well). I knew what scared him. And I knew he had dreams—even if I didn't understand them. Even if he nearly ruined my life to pursue them. Jimmy's dead now, and I definitely know that better than anyone. I know about blood and bone and how bodies decompose. I know about shadows and stones and hatchets. I know what a last cry for help sounds like. I know what blood looks like on my own hands. What I don't know is if I can trust my own eyes. I don't know who threw the stone. Who swung the hatchet? Who are the shadows? What do the living owe the dead?

Fantasy-roman.

After the death of her father, Rose Zarelli struggles to contol her feelings and manage her life as a freshman in high school.